LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

GIK1'   OK 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  iSg^.   \ 
t/lccessions  No .  ^j^/ ^S^     Class  No. 


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iijig.br  y  Ealpin.iinni  a-Dagaerreot^e, 


A  MEMOIR 


THE   LIFE 


JAMES    MILNOR,    D.D. 


LATE    EECTOR 


OF  ST.  GEORGE'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 


BY  THE  REY.  JOHN  S.  STONE,  D.D, 


B.ECTOH.  OF  CHRIST  CHURCH,  BROOKLYN. 


ABRIDGED  BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THl^5^_f 
AMERICAN   TRACT    SOCIETY, 

150  NASSAU-STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1849,  by 

WILLIAM  H.    MILNOR, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  SouUi- 

ern  District  of  New  York. 


PREFACE 


As  to  his  own  part  in  the  following  Memoir,  the  wi-iter  desires 
to  say,  that  in  the  use  made  of  Dr.  Milnor's  diaries,  journal,  and 
letters,  he  has  taken  no  other  liberties  than  such  as  he  supposed 
his  friend  would  himself  have  taken,  had  he  attempted,  while 
living,  to  prepare  them  for  the  press.  Written  as  those  papers 
were,  amid  the  bustle  of  a  busy  life,  and  with  no  thought  of  their 
being  ever  embodied  in  their  present  form,  they  of  course  needed 
some  revision.  The  clearing  of  the  meaning  of  some  sentences, 
by  an  occasional  transposition  in  the  order  of  their  members,  and 
by  the  occasional  substitution  of  more  exactly  significant  words 
for  those  which  had  been  seized  in  the  process  of  rapid  composi- 
tion, and  which  but  imperfectly  expressed  the  author's  thought; 
and  the  softening,  here  and  there,  of  a  term,  which  in  the  confi- 
dence of  familiar  intercourse,  was  safe  and  proper,  but  which  with 
a  public  necessarily  ignorant  of  minute  and  explanatory  circum- 
stances, might  be  regarded  as  too  strong ;  these  are  the  chief  free- 
doms, which,  in  the  execution  of  his  task,  he  has  felt  at  liberty  to 
indulge.  Generally,  Dr.  Milnor's  expressions  needed  no  correc- 
tion. Many  personal  references,  however,  both  to  himself  and  to 
others,  have  been  dropped ;  and  as  little,  that  could  be  painful  to 
the  feelings  of  the  living,  has  been  retained,  as  was  consistent 
with  fidelity  to  the  character  and  views  of  the  dead,  and  to  those 
public  interests  and  trusts  under  which  he  was  called  to  act.  Dr. 
Milnor  lived  to  see  the  church  pass  into,  if  not  through  troublous 
times — times  during  which  public  feeling  was  often  most  pain- 
fully alive ;  and  he  felt  called  to  act  in  many  stations  where  he 
became  himself  the  occasion  of  much  of  the  feeling  by  which  the 
public  was  affected.  It  was  therefore  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  write  the  life  of  such  a  man  after  he  had  left  the  stage,  with- 
out sometimes  reviving  memories  more  or  less  unwelcome  to  not 
a  few  of  his  survivors. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  in  the  following  work  are 
virtually  two  memoirs :  one  of  Mr.  Milnor  as  a  man  of  the  world, 


4  TEEFACE. 

and  another  of  Dr.  Milnor  as  a  Christian  man.  Tlie  former  could 
not  with  propriety  be  omitted,  because,  though  a  distinct  life  by 
itself,  with  its  own  principles,  character,  and  acts  in  full  devel- 
opment, yet  it  is  important  to  a  just  appreciation  of  the  latter. 
In  some  things.  Dr.  Milnor  as  a  Christian,  is  very  like  Mr.  Mil- 
nor as  a  worldly  man;  in  others,  quite  unlike.  These  lights  of 
likeness  and  of  contrast  combine,  or  stand  out  in  distinctness,  to 
give  us  the  true  idea  of  the  whole  man.  Even  the  false  and  dan- 
gerous notions  of  religion  which  he  entertained  in  his  days  of 
darkness  and  self-righteousness,  help  to  set  forth  in  stronger  colors 
those  right  conceptions  of  divine  truth  to  which  he  was  led  by 
the  great  crisis  of  his  life.  Those,  however,  to  whom  the  details 
of  his  early  history  would  be  likely  to  prove  uninteresting,  and 
who  have  knowTi,  or  wish  to  contemplate  him  as  a  Christian  only, 
will  find  the  former  part  of  the  work  as  brief  as  it  could  well  be 
made,  and  will  not  have  to  turn  over  many  pages  before  they, 
reach  what  will  more  specially  meet  their  wishes,  and  it  may  be, 
satisfy  their  desires. 

And  now,  all  that  remains  is  to  say,  that  although  the  writer 
has  felt  that  he  was  dealing  with  a  character  of  uncommon  excel- 
lence, yet  he  has  not  felt  that  he  was  writing  the  life  of  a  perfect 
being.  However  much,  therefore,  he  has  found  in  that  character 
to  commend,  he  has  endeavored  not  so  to  shape  his  commendations 
as  to  make  the  praise  redound  to  the  man,  instead  of  Him  from 
whom  alone  cometh  every  good,  and  to  whom  alone,  especially 
in  the  results  of  Christian  excellence,  all  praise  is  due. 


CONTENTS 


PART   I. 

HIS  EARLY  LIFE,  LEGAL  PRACTICE,  AND  POLITICAL 
CAREER. 

Section  I — Quaker  parentage — Family  history — Youthful  traits — Education 
— Law  studies — Yellow-fever  of  '93 — Admittance  to  the  bar — Debating 
societies — Commences  practice  at  Norristown — Freemasonry — Return  to 
Philadelphia — Early  abolition  society — Fire  department — Yellow-fever  of 
'98 — Retreat  to  Norristown — Marriage — Read  out  of  Quaker  meeting — 
Reasons  for  keeping  a  diary — Character  as  a  lawyer — Incidents  of  legal 
life — An  honest  lawyer — Business  habits — Affecting  incident — Value  of 
business  habits — A  fashionable  man  of  the  world, 11 

Section  II. — Entrance  on  political  life — Member  of  city-council — Milnor's 
popularity — Election  to  Congress — Takes  his  seat  in  the  House — First 
winter's  letters  from  Washington — Speech  in  Congress — Second  winter  in 
"Washington — Extracts  from  letters — Speech — Dinner  with  the  President — 
"War  fever — Washington  gayeties  and  war  debates — Mode  of  life — Domes- 
tic feelings — Prospect  of  long  session — Grout — Secret  debates — War  im- 
pends— Is  declared — Address  of  the  Federalists — Eventful  speech — Phila- 
delphia newspaper  report — Difficulty  with  Henry  Clay — Challenge — Cor- 
respondence— Review — Third  winter  in  Washington — Extracts  from  let- 
ters— Speech — Political  excitement — G  rand  national  ball — Political  asper- 
ities— Quincy's  severe  speech — Short  session — Adjournment — G-out — Close 
of  political  life, 44 

PART  II. 

HISTORY  OF  HIS  RELIGIOUS   CHANGE. 

Section  I — Early  moral  traits — Aquila  M.  Bolton — Serious  letters — Mr. 
Milnor's  remarks  thereon — Milnor  a  Universalist — Examination  of  the 
Christian  evidences,  and  study  of  the  Bible — Universalism  renounced — A 
rational  believer — Dependence  on  works — Second  diary — Attendance  on 
Presbyterian  ministry — Probable  influence  of  Bolton's  letters — Begins  to 
attend  Episcopal  church — Feeling  after  truth — New-year's  reflections, 
1810 — Dr.  Pilmore — Election  to  vestry  of  associated  churches — Hearing 
sermons — Inward  struggle — Views  of  the  Sabbath — First  recorded  prayer 
— Influence  of  early  Quakerism — Review  of  religious  progress  to  1812 — 
G-eneral  Convention  at  New  Haven, 80 


6  CONTENTS. 

Section  II. — Thomas  Bradford — Anecdote  in  a  law-oflSce — Remarkable  inci- 
dent— Religious  letters  from  Congress  to  Mrs.  Milnor — A  praying  Congress- 
man— Religious  letters  continued — Weariness  of  politics — Solemn  morning 
•walk,  Dec.  22,  1812 — Unfriendly  influence  of  politics, 102 

Section  III. — Correspondence  with  Thomas  Bradford — Letters — Epistolary 
account  of  conversion — Views  of  death — Letters  to  Mrs.  Milnor — Solicitude 
for  her  conversion — Struggles  with  the  world — Review, 122 

PART   III. 

HIS  MINISTRY  FROM  1814  TO  1830. 

Section  I — Theological  studies — Norristown — Lay-reader — Reflections  on  a 
change  of  profession — Prayer — ^Visit  to  Rev.  Mr.  Bull — Journey  into  Vir- 
ginia— Dangerous  illness — Invitations  to  Baltimore  and  Richmond — Re- 
plies— Praying  spirit — Return  to  Philadelphia — Temporal  affairs — Letter 
to  Aquila  M.  Bolton — Preparatory  studies  completed — Examinations — 
Ordination — First  sermon — Assistant  in  the  associated  churches — Ordain- 
ed presbyter — Interest  in  the  Bible  cause — Call  to  St.  George's,  New  York 
— ^Visit  to  New  York — Acceptance  of  the  rectorship  of  St.  Greorge's — Settle- 
ment in  New  York, , 171 

Section  II — American  Bible  Society — Correspondence  with  a  doubting  pa- 
rishioner, and  a  cavilling  inquirer — Opening  of  new  Sunday-school  rooms — 
Glance  from  1817  to  1821 — Letter  to  Mr.  Mcllvaine — Ingenuous  acknov/- 
ledgment — Glance  to  1825 — Perilous  illness — Religious  exercises — Public 
sympathy — Letter  to  Mr.  Mcllvaine — Account  of  illness  by  Dr.  Stearns 
and  Wm.  H.  Milnor — Origin  of  American  Tract  Society — Sick  chamber — 
Mr.  Hallock — Espousal  of  tract  cause — First  sermon  after  recover)' — 
Public  organization  of  Tract  Society — Dr.  Milnor's  agency — Delegation 
from  New  York  to  Boston— Dr.  "Woods, 201 

Section  III — 1825.  Letters  to  a  theological  student — Bishop  Ilobart's  return 
from  Europe — Letter  touching  that  return.  1826.  Letters  to  Prof,  Mcll- 
vaine during  the  revival  at  West  Point — Letter  to  the  student  touching 
his  fourth  of  July  address— Backslider  reclaimed.  1827.  State  of  St. 
George's — Dangerous  accident  in  returning  from  Flushing — Death  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Duffie.  1828.  State  of  St.  George's — Milnor  professorship.  1829. 
"  Protestant  Episcopal  Clerical  Association  of  New  York."  1830.  'Letter 
to  Rev.  J.  P.  K.  Ilenshaw — African  mission-scJiool — Review,  .     .     .  234 


PART  IV. 

MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.    1830. 
Section  I — American  origin  of  the  idea — Views  of  Dr.  Milnor  in  accepting 
the  appointment — Engagements  on  the  eve  of  departure— Instructions  and 
commissions — Embarkation — Extracts  from  journal  of  voyage Reaches 


CONTENTS.  7 

Liverpool — Deaf  and  dumb  instruction — Birmingham — Clergy  of  Birming- 
ham— Dr.  Kewley  a  Jesuit — First  Sabbath  in  England — J.  A.  James — • 
Journey  to  London — Bible  Society's  House — Mr.  Brandram — Lord  Teign- 
mouth  —  Bromley  and  Beckenham  Auxiliary  anniversary — Clergymen's 
widows — Dinner  at  Mr.  Inglis' — Dr.  Parker — Woolwich  grounds — Royal 
marquee — First  Sabbath  in  London — Bishop  Blomfield — Preachers  char- 
acterized— British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society — Counsellor  Marriott — Re- 
ligious Tract  Society — St.  Bartholomew's,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Wilkinson  — 
Samuel  Charles  Wilks — Methodist  Missionary  House — Prayer-book  and 
Homily  Society,  and  Mr.  Pritchett — Irish  Society  anniversary — Hibernian 
Society — Statistics, 273 

Section  H. — Week  of  the  great  anniversaries — Monday,  May  3,  Wesleyan 
Missionary  Society — Dinner  at  Mr.  Haslope's — Tuesday,  Church  Mission- 
ary Society — Dinner  at  Mr.  Solicitor  Forster's — Wednesday,  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society — Lord  Bexley,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  Bishop  of 
Chester,  Mr.  Wilberforce,  Dr.  Milnor,  Hon.  Charles  Grrant,  M.  P..  Daniel 
Wilson,  etc. — Introduction  to  the  bishops — Dinner  at  Mr.  Williams' — Re- 
ligious exercises — Thursday,  clerical  breakfast — Tract  Society's  western 
meeting — Prayer-book  and  Homily  Society — Dr.  Milnor's  speech — Dinner 
at  Mr.  Bickersteth's — Literary  company — Friday,  clerical  breakfast — Lon- 
don Jews'  Society — Dinner  at  Mr.  Hatchard's — Saturday,  rural  scene  at 
Clapham — Mr.  Gilliat — Mr.  Mcllvaine's  arrival — Blackheath  Branch  Bible 
Society — Third  Sabbath  in  London — Further  anniversaries — Religious  ex- 
ercises of  the  week,  at  breakfasts  and  dinners — Baptist  Noel  and  Waltham- 
stow — Critique  on  country  residences — Daniel  Wilson,  and  breakfast  at 
Islington — Anniversary  of  the  Reformation  Society — Bishop  of  Winches- 
ter— G-uernsey  custom — Capt.  Gordon,  and  St.  Jamds'-place — Discussion 
revived — Animated  scene  at  one  of  the  anniversaries — Clarkson,  Wilber- 
force, and  others — Mr.  Ewbank, 291 

Section  III. — Sabbath  at  Camberwell  —  Melvill  —  Dulwich  college  —  G-reen- 
wich  hospital — Breakfast  at  J.  Haldane  Stewart's — Caledonian  chapel, 
and  Dr.  Chalmers — Social  engagements — Woolwich,  and  Dr.  Gregory — 
Sabbath  at  Paul's  Cray,  and  John  Symonds — Institution  for  Deaf  and 
Djimb — Dinner  at  Zachary  Macauley's — Views  of  Millenarians,  Irving, 
McNeile — Interesting  intercourse  with  Daniel  Wilson  at  Islington — Stoke- 
Newington,  and  Dr.  Watts — Business  with  Church  Missionary  Society — 
Charity-school  anniversary  at  St.  Paul's — Joseph  John  Gurney — Sunday 
thoughts  of  home — Trait  in  morals — Visits  about  London — Missionary  insti- 
tution at  Islington — Professors  Pearson,  Ayre,  and  Lee — Daughter  of  Legh 
Richmond — Turvey — William  Allen,  and  Stoke-Newington — Hannah  Kil- 
ham — Accident  and  peril — Sufferings, 313 

Section  IV. — Visit  to  Paris — Accident  on  the  Thames — From  Calais  to  Paris 
—  Beggars  —  Paris  —  Catholic  service  at  St.  Roch's — Vaults  under  the 
Pantheon — Bishop  Luscomb — Professor  Kieffer — Sunday  in  Paris — Parox- 
ysm of  gout — Mons.  and  Mad.  Serrurier — Reminiscence  of  political  life — 


8  CONTENTS. 

Teacher  for  the  New  York  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb — Dinner  with 
M.  Vaysse,  Sen — Literary  company — Symptoms  of  revolution — Versailles 
— Return  to  England, 335 

Section  V. — Visit  to  Isle  of  Wight — Contrast  between  France  and  England — 
Sabbath  at  Ryde— Mr.  Sibthorpe— Scenery— Tomb  of  "Little  Jane"— 
Brading  church — Sandown  bay — Scenery  of  "African  Servant" — Natural- 
ness of  Legh  Richmond's  descriptions — Shanklin-Chine — Reading  of  "  The 
Young  Cottager" — Bonchurch  and  Undercliff — Appuldercomb — Scenery 
of  "Dairyman's  Daughter" — Dairyman's  cottage — Arreton  church — New- 
port— Mr.  Mcllvaine  ill — Trip  to  Southampton — "Western  tour — Carisbrook 
castle — Clerical  mayor —  Shorwell —  Scenery —  Freshwater-gate —  Caverns 
—The  Needles— Return  to  Newport, 342 

Sectioit  VI. — Departure  from  the  Isle  of  Wight — Tour  through  England, 
Wales,  and  Ireland — Southampton — Winchester,  cathedral  and  school — 
Exeter — Scenery — Expensive  road — Humorous  signboards — llfracombe — 
Romantic  position — Ancient  church — Linton — Striking  scenery — Porlock 
— Amusing  colloquy  with  an  innkeeper — Progress  to  Bristol — Mr.  Prust — 
Clifton — Robert  Hall — Visit  to  Hannah  More — Bishop  Hobart's  letter  on 
Dr.  Milnor's  speech — Departure  from  Bristol — Election  mob — The  four 
daughters  of  Droitwich  —  Election  canvass  at  Bridgenorth  —  Rotten-bor- 
ough system  —  Lovely  scenery — Romantic  scenery — Welsh  language  — 
Passage  of  the  mountains  —  Snowden  —  Magnificent  scenery — Bangor  — 
Suspension-bridge  over  Menai  Strait — Anglesea — Holyhead — Embarka- 
tion— Sleep  in  a  storm — Jaunting-car — Dublin — Rainy  ride  to  Belfast  354 

Section  VII — Tour  through  Scotland,  and  north  of  England — Arrival  at 
Glasgow — Contrast  with  Ireland — Institutions  ot  Glasgow — Statistics — 
Social  engagements — Temperance  meeting — Deaf  and  Dumb  Institution — 
Departure  for  Edinburgh — Dr.  Byrne,  and  the  General  Assembly — A  Scotch 
discussion — John  Sheppard — Mrs.  Sheppard  and  Lord  Byron — Long  walk 
to  Artliur's-seat — Dr.  Qhalmers  —  Episcopal  clergy — Breakfast  at  Dr. 
Chalmers' — Discussion — Holyrood  House — Asylum  for  Deaf  and  Dumb — 
Journey  among  the  Cheviot  hills — Assize  Court  at  Carlisle — Lake  seen- 
ery — Kendal  and  Manchester — School  for  Deaf  and  Dumb — Sabbath  in 

Manchester —The  Rev.  Mr.  Stowell — Remarkable  infant-school  teacher 

Journey  to  Sheffield — Derbyshire  scenery — Sheffield — Montgomery — Social 

and  religious  scenes — Bible  Society  meeting — Valuable  acquaintances 

Vicar  of  Sheffield — Afl'ecting  parting  with  Montgomery — Touching  remi- 
niscence—  Return  to  London  —  Business  engagements  —  Recurrence   to 

Bishop  Hobart's  letter — Adieus  of  the  Bible  Society  —  Lord  Bexley 

Parting  dinner  with  Zachary  M.-vcauley — Robert  Owen  and  his  schemes 

William  Allen — Parting  dimier  with  Lord  Bexley — Visit  to  Cambrid"-e 

Professor  Parish — Mr.  Simeon — Parting  visit  to  Lord  Teignmouth De- 
parture from  London — Mrs.  Dixon  of  Henley — Religion  at  an  inn Oxford 

— Embarkation  at  Liverpool,  27th  of  September — Reception  in  New  York 
— Reputation  of  Dr.  Milnor  in  England — Results  of  mission,     .    .    .  373 


CONTENTS.  9 

PART   V. 

HIS  MINISTRY  FROM  3830  TO  1845. 

Section  I. — Kenyon  College,  and  Milnor  professorship — State  of  St.  G-eorge's 
— Letter  to  a  clerical  correspondent — Clerical  removals — Literary  conven- 
tion— Letters  to  his  son — Cholera  season — Extracts  from  letters — Letter 
to  Bishop  Mcllvaine — Bristol  college — Mission  to  Grreen  Bay — Results  of 
the  mission — Visit  to  Boston,  Massachusetts  Convention — G-eneral  Conven- 
tion, 1835 — Reorganization  of  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society — 
Secretary  and  general  agent — G-enerosity — The  Rev.  J.  W.  Cooke — Labors 
as  secretary  and  general  agent — Reappointment  declined — Lifluence  on 
our  missions — Letters  during  his  secretaryship — Tour  to  Cleveland — Ohio 
Convention — Letters  on  his  tour — Close  of  labor  as  secretary  and  general 
agent, 403 

Section  II — Rev.  Mr.  Cooke — Letters  from  Lord  Bexley  and  Montgomery — 
Tractarianism — Letter  to  Bishop  Smith  on  church  vievi^s — Board  of  Mis- 
sions at  Baltimore — Letter  to  Bishop  Mcllvaine — G-eneral  Convention, 
1838 — Division  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York — Northern  tour  with  Bishop 
Meade, 435 

Section  III — Oxford  Tract  controversy — Letter  to  Bishop  Mcllvaine — G-loomy 
forebodings — Charge  on  Justification — From  Dr.  Sparrow,  resigning  the 
Milnor  professorship — To  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  "Oxford  Divinity" — Letter  to 
Dr.  Beasley — Visit  to  Alexandria — Letter  from  the  Bishop  of  Calcutta — 
Splendid  tribute  to  Bishop  Mcllvaine's  "Oxford  Divinity" — Answer — « 
From  Bishop  Meade,  Missions  to  "Western  Asia — Letter  to  Bishop  Mcll- 
vaine, Dr.  Fuller  appointed  "  Milnor  Professor  " — Maryland  State  Coloniza- 
tion Society — Carey  ordination — Letters  from  Bishops  Meade  and  Smith — 
Semi-annual  Bible  Society  meeting  at  Cincinnati — Dr.  Milnor  appointed 
to  read  an  essay  on  "  The  Rule  of  Faith" — Letter  to  Bishop  Smith,  Oxford- 
ism — Stormy  Convention  in  New  York,  1843 — Letter  from  Dr.  Aydelott, 
Dr.  Spring's  essay  on  "  The  Rule  of  Faith" — The  Rev.  P.  P.  Irving  assist- 
ant at  St.  G-eorge's, 446 

Section  IV. — Dangerous  attack  of  gout,  1844 — Letters  on  recovery,  from 
Bishop  Eastburn,  and  Mr.  Irving — From  Bishop  Mcllvaine — From  the 
Bishop  of  Calcutta — Love  of  repose — Visit  to  Middle  Haddam — Heavy 
domestic  affliction — G-eneral  Convention  of  1844 — Ecclesiastical  trial — Dr. 
Milnor's  testimony — Bishop  Smith's  tribute  to  Dr.  Milnor's  conduct  at  the 
trial — His  son's  "Recollections" — Longings  for  repose,  not  for  inaction — 
Free-chapel  movement — Vigorous  old  age — Impressive  incident  at  a  meeti- 
ing  of  the  Directors  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Institution — Sudden  death — 
Wm.  H.  Milnor's  account  of  the  closing  scene — Habitual  preparation  for 
sudden  death — Public  demonstrations  of  grief — The  funeral — Discourses  on 
his  death, 480 

1* 


10  CONTENTS. 

PART   VI, 

RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER. 

1.  His  connection  with  the  Bible  Society — Principle  of  action — Dr.  Brigham'g 
statement — Influence  of  Dr.  Milnor  in  the  Society.  2.  His  connection  with 
the  Tract  Society — Carrying  out  of  principle  of  action — Mr.  Hallock's 
statement — Illustrative  documents — Preciousness  of  Dr.  Milnor's  name  in 
the  tract  cause.  3.  His  connection  with  the  cause  of  education.  4.  His 
position  in  the  Episcopal  church — A  sketch — Prominence  of  Dr.  Milnor  in 
the  evangelical  cause — His  relation  to  the  Church  at  large,  and  to  the 
Diocese  of  New  York  in  particular — Anecdotes.  5.  Traits  of  character — 
Illustrative  anecdotes  and  views — Intellectual  traits — Theological  traits — 
Pulpit  traits — Dr.  Cutler's  sermon — Domestic  traits,  hospitality,  cheerful- 
ness, tlie  Christian  gentleman,  benevolence — Mr.  Peet's  sermon — Death  to 
the  good  man  never  sudden — Anecdotes — Habits  of  sermon- writing,  and 
pastoral  duty — Favorite  allegory — Idea  of  true  Catholicism — Indifference 
to  officiftl  elevation — Close, 499 


1=" 


MEMOIR 


PAET  I. 

EARLY  LIFE,   LEGAL  PRACTICE,  AND  POLITI- 
CAL CAREER. 

SECTION   I. 

It  is  peculiar  to  the  true  children  of  God,  that  before  they 
reach  that  perfect  life  which  awaits  them  in  heaven,  they 
will  have  hved  two  blessed  and  beneficent  lives  on  earth. 
This  made  the  apostle  say  of  the  faith  of  Abel,  "By  it  he, 
being  dead,  yet  speaketh."  For  thousands  of  years,  men 
have  had  a  knowledge  of  the  name,  and  faith,  and  gracious 
acceptance  of  that  early  saint.  Through  that  whole  period, 
indeed,  he  has  been  sleeping  among  the  dead.  Yet  has  he 
all  the  while  had  a  most  precious  life  among  the  living.  In 
the  experience  of  eminent  saints,  the  one  of  these  two  lives 
is,  at  the  longest,  short ;  the  other  is,  at  the  shortest,  long. 
The  one  is  spent  by  the  living  among  the  living ;  the  other 
cometh  up  to  the  living  from  among  the  dead.  The  one  is 
the  light  of  labor,  and  example,  and  influence,  moving  rap- 
idly towards  the  grave  ;  the  other  is  the  power  of  faith,  and 
love,  and  suffering,  coming  back  in  perennial  memories  from 
the  tomb.  In  the  one,  the  faithful  may  see  rich  fruits  from 
the  short  summer  of  their  toils ;  in  the  other,  they  will  hear 
of  fruits  richer  still,  because  so  many  ages  shall  lie  within 
their  harvest-time.  In  the  former,  faith  sometimes  does  its 
work,  like  Abel's,  in  one  great  sacrifice ;  in  the  latter,  that 
faith,  living  in  some  God-inspired  record,  often  carries  on  its 
work  through  long  generations,  and  over  distant  realms. 


12  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

To  those  who  have  finished  well  the  former  of  these  two 
lives,  religious  biography  seeks  to  secure  the  most  beneficial 
results  of  the  latter ;  and  whether  that  biography  swell  to 
volumes,  or  be  but  as  the  brief  paragraph  which  has  brought 
down  to  our  knowledge  the  triumph  of  Abel's  faith,  yet,  if 
it  include  all  and  only  what  God  would  keep  aUve,  it  doeth 
excellent  work,  and  shall  have  unfailing  fi-uits.  Such  is  the 
work  at  which  the  writer  has  aimed,  in  penning  the  follow- 
ing memoir. 

James  Milnor,  late  rector  of  St.  George's  church,  New 
York,  was  born  in  the  city  of  Pliiladelphia,  on  the  20th  day 
of  June,  1773.  His  immediate  ancestors  belonged  to  the 
society  of  Friends ;  his  father  and  mother,  William  and  Anna 
Brientnall  Milnor,  being  by  birth  and  education  members  of 
that  respectable  body.  Family  tradition  reports  that  they 
were  both  descendants  of  the  early  settlers  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  has  treasured  facts  showing  that  they  were  worthy  of 
their  descent. 

His  father  was  born  in  the  state  of  New  Jersey,  settled 
early  near  Falsington,  in  Bucks  county,  Pemisylvania,  sub- 
sequently removed  to  his  native  state,  and  finally  fixed  him- 
self with  his  household  in  Philadelphia.  The  original  orthog- 
raphy of  the  family  name  was  Milner,  and  so  it  is  still  written 
in  England.  When  the  subject  of  tliis  memoir  visited  Great 
Britain,  he  found  the  Milners  numerous  in  Lancashire.  Tlie 
name  was  changed  to  Milnor  by  the  early  pioneers  of  the 
family  in  this  country. 

William  Milnor  shared  largely  the  respect  of  his  people. 
To  the  plain  manners  and  characteristic  integrity  of  the 
Friends,  he  added  great  energy  and  a  cheerful  disposition. 
His  cheerfulness  was  often  tried,  but  never  overcome,  by  that 
trying  disorder  to  which  he  was  a  victim,  the  gout.  Even 
when  suflering  the  most  violent  paroxysms  of  his  disorder, 
he  always  preserved  his  equanimity  of  temper.  "Under  a 
pecuUarly  agonizing  fit,  he  was  once  sitting  with  his  feet  on 
a  pillow,  swathed  in  flamiel,  and  too  tender  to  be  touched 


HIS  EAULY  LIFE.  13 

without  distressing  pain,  when  his  daughter's  dress,  in  her 
attempt  to  reach  something  on  the  mantel,  took  fire.  Upon 
rushing  into  the  room,  his  son  James  found  the  old  gentle- 
man, wholly  unconscious  of  pain,  busily  stamping  out  the 
flames  with  his  gouty  feet.  In  truth,  the  gout  had  left  him, 
and  he  was  highly  delighted  with  the  suddenness  of  his  cure. 
The  next  day,  however,  his  delight  ended  in  bitter  disap- 
pointment ;  for  his  disorder  not  only  returned,  but  came  back 
with  strong  reinforcements  of  violence. 

According  to  the  wholesome  custom  of  those  good  old  days, 
which  provided  every  young  man  some  sure  means  of  liveli- 
hood, William  Milnor  was  early  bred  to  the  handicraft  of  a 
cooper;  but  developing  talents  for  other  pursuits,  he  soon 
engaged  in  trade,  and  at  the  period  which  introduced  the 
Revolution,  was  extensively  concerned  in  a  fishery.  At  the 
same  time,  he  was  factor  to  Col.  Washington  of  Mount  Ver- 
non ;  and  a  valuable  correspondence,  now*  in  possession  of 
the  Milnor  family,  shows  that  for  sound  judgment  and  strict 
integrity,  he  enjoyed  largely  the  confidence  of  that  great 
man.  From  one  of  the  letters  in  this  correspondence,  it  ap- 
pears that  they  had  a  joint  interest  in  one  of  the  fisheries. 
•'  I  have  not  been  unmindful  of  my  promise,"  writes  Col. 
Washington,  "  in  respect  to  the  fish-house.  Before  the  next 
season,  I  shall  have  one  erected  for  your  accommodation,  not 
doubting  but  it  may  turn  out  to  both  our  advantages." 

His  connection  in  business  with  Col.  Washington  was 
proof  of  his  high  character,  and  had  no  little  influence  oil  his 
subsequent  life.  When  the  drama  of  the  Revolution  opened, 
his  patriotism  took  fire  ;  and  in  spite  of  the  discipline  of  the 
Friends,  wliich  is  opposed  to  all  war,  defensive  as  well  as 
aggressive,  he  at  once  applied  for  a  commission  in  the  army. 
His  attachment  to  his  old  friend,  who  had  by  this  time  be- 
com.e  General  Washington,  was  perhaps  the  spark  which 
kindled  his  patriotism  into  a  flame,  and  made  his  subsequent 
disappointment  so  painful.  The  reasons  for  withdrawing  his 
application  for  a  commission  are  stated  in  the  following  letter. 


hmi% 


14  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

To  Qrea.  George  Washington,  January,  1776. 

"  Honorable  Sir — Your  very  kind  favor  of  the  20th  of 
December  came  safe  to  hand,  and  gave  me  great  relief  I 
am  happy,  inasmuch  as  I  have  not  displeasc^vour  Excel- 
lency in  my  conduct  so  far.  I  am  unhappy,  however,  be- 
cause I  cannot  get  into  the  army.  I  had  thrown  in  a  peti- 
tion for  a  captaincy,  and  had  the  greatest  prospect  of  success. 
Mr.  Franklin,  in  consequence  of  your  letter,  had  made  the 
way  clear  for  me ;  my  spirits  were  elevated,  and  there  ap- 
peared nothing  in  view  that  could  stop  me.  My  wife,  from 
continued  assurances  of  my  unalterable  intention  of  going, 
,  had  got  nearly  reconciled  to  it.  But  alas,  a  few  days  before 
the  appointment  tf  officers,  the  old  ferry  was  to  be  let.  I 
was  immediately  surrounded  by  my  friends,  insisting  that 
there  was  no  litter  person  for  that  business  than  myself;  and 
as  it  was  a  place  of  profit,  I  ought,  in  consideration  of  my 
large  family,  to  prefer  being  with  them  to  going  abroad  pn 
any  terms.  Their  reasonings,  together  with  the  entreaties 
of  my  dear  partner,  prevailed  on  me  to  withdraw  my  peti- 
tion, and  I  am  now  a  drudge  at  the  old  ferry,  within  two 
doors  of  where  I  formerly  Uved  in  "Water-street.  /  thank 
my  God,  he  has  give?i  me  a  persevering  disposition,  equal 
to  any  task  he  is  pleased  to  lay  upon  me  in  this  life.  I  never 
found  any  prospect  of  fatigue  an  annoyance  to  any  undertak- 
ing, when  a  probability  of  a  good,  genteel  sustenance  for  my 
little  flock  ofiered  in  view ;  and  this  business  would  be  a 
very  agreeable  one  to  me,  if  these  unhappy  disturbances  were 
at  an  end.  But  I  cannot  conclude  this  letter  until  I  have 
assured  your  Excellency,  that  /  sliaU  remain  a  pooTy  un- 
happy wretch,  as  long  as  I  am  chai?ied,  and  cannot  take  an 
active  part  in  my  country's  cause.  Whether  a  true  patriotic 
concern  for  my  country,  or  secret  thirst  after  honor,  or  both 
combined,  is  the  spring  by  which  my  spirits  are  actuated,  I 
have  the  vanity  to  behove  that  the  former  is  the  chief  mo- 
tive, and  that  only  experience  is  wanted  to  make  me  a  sol- 
dier.    I  sometimes  please  myself  by  thinking,  that,  when 


HIS  EARLY  LIFE.  15 

my  wife  has  gained  experience  in  our  present  business,  and 
if  the  troubles  should  increase  in  the  ensuing  summer  as  it 
seems  probable  they  will,  I  will  place  some  steady  hand  to 
assist  her,  and  again  offer  myself  to  my  country." 

In  this  letter  breathes  the  true  spirit  of  '76  ;  and  to  those 
who  were  well  acquainted  with  Dr.  Milnor,  it  will  be  evident 
that  one  at  least  of  the  characteristic  traits  of  the  father — his 
inflexible,  self-relying  perseverance  in  any  high  and  worthy 
pursuit — was  largely  inherited  by  the  son.  Although  the 
former  was  constrained  to  abandon  his  suit  for  a  commission 
in  the  army,  yet  he  by  no  means  remained  idle  during  the 
great  struggle  on  which  his  country  was  then  entering. 
Even  liis  position  at  the  "  old  ferry,"  in  his  plain,  Gluaker 
garb,  gave  him  no  poor  facilities  for  acquiring  important 
information  of  the  enemy's  movements  ;  and  of  those  facili- 
ties he  made  the  most.  He  was  one  of  the  many,  whom  the 
clear-judging  Washington  had  the  good  fortune  to  attach  to 
him,  whose  humble  names  have  long  since  been  forgotten ; 
but  whose  services,  as  in  other  raiatters,  so  especially  in 
transmitting  by  various  channels  intelligence  of  great  value 
to  the  cause  of  the  struggling  colonies,  were  truly  invaluable. 

About  the  "old  ferry,"  Mr.  Milnor  usually  drove  a  chaise 
with  an  ingenious  false  bottom ;  so  that,  though  often  sus- 
pected of  being  in  the  interests  of  the  revolutionists,  yet  he 
was  never  detected  by  the  enemy.  Twice,  indeed,  he  was 
obliged  to  fly  for  his  life ;  but  the  same  good  Providence 
which  guided  and  guarded  Washington,  preserved  him  harm- 
less to  the  close  of  the  conflict.  His  services  were  not  con- 
fined to  the  conveyance  of  intelligence :  he  did  much  towards 
furnishing  supplies  for  the  patriot  army. 

His  conduct  during  the  Revolution,  of  course  gave  great 
offence  to  "  the  heads  of  meetmg,"  and  he  was  formally  dis- 
owned. A  few  years  before  his  death,  however,  he  was  re- 
united, and  died  in  the  society's  connection,  at  the  age  of  73. 
His  wife  had  preceded  him  to  the  grave.     Yet  both  lived 


16  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

long  enough  to  see  their  country  in  peace  and  prosperity, 
and  their  youngest  son  settled  in  life,  and  as  a  laAvyer  rising 
rapidly  to  wealth  and  honor. 

The  children  of  the  family  were  five,  two  daughters  and 
three  sons.  The  elder  of  the  two  daughters  died  at  middle 
age.  The  younger,  who  was  also  the  youngest  child,  was 
married  to  Dr.  Joseph  Klapp,  a  physician  of  eminence  in 
Philadelphia  ;  and  after  a  life  of  suffering  from  a  painful 
disease,  borne  with  Christian  patience,  died  a  few  years  be- 
fore her  favorite  brother  James. 

Of  the  sons,  Isaac,  the  oldest,  was  a  merchant,  and  a  man 
of  strong  mind  and  great  energy.  He  died  at  middle  age, 
of  an  acute  attack  of  the  gout.  William  junior  was  also  a 
merchant,  and  stood  high  in  the  community.  At  one  time 
he  ably  represented  the  city  of  Philadelphia  in  Congress. 
He  was  exceedingly  attached  to  his  brother  James,  and  it 
was  evident  to  the  family  that  his  death  was  hastened  by 
his  grief  for  that  dear  brother's  decease.  He  died  about  a 
year  after  the  subject  of  this  memoir. 

In  passing,  now,  from  these  brief  notices  of  the  family 
kindred  of  James  Milnor,  to  a  detail  of  particulars  m  the  life 
of  this  beloved  "  man  of  God,"  we  find,  as  in  other  cases, 
little  in  his  childhood  that  calls  for  record.  His  school-boy 
days  were  bright  and  happy,  because  maral  and  industrious. 
At  the  Pennsylvania  grammar-school,  in  his  native  city,  he 
received  the  rudiments  of  his  education ;  and  at  an  early  age 
entered  the  university  of  Pennsylvania.  A  surviving  school- 
fellow and  playmate,  still  living  amid  the  scenes  of  their 
childhood,  remembers  well,  that  when  a  boy  he  was  distin- 
guished for  the  very  traits  which  characterized  him  as  a  man, 
especially  for  soundness  of  judgment  and  kindness  of  disposi- 
tion. By  a  sort  of  tacit  election  among  his  school-fellows, 
James  Milnor  was  early  raised  to  two  important  posts  of 
distinction  :  that  of  judge  in  their  boyish  controversies,  and 
that  of  a  student  for  his  class-mates,  whenever  it  was  their 
])urposo  to  let  play  trench  on  the  hours  of  study.     They  will- 


HIS  EARLY  LIFE.  17 

ingly  submitted  to  his  judgment  in  the  former  capacity,  he- 
cause  confident  his  decisions  would  be  just ;  while  they  gladly 
availed  themselves  of  his  diligence  in  the  latter,  because  cer- 
tain that  the  lessons  which  he  prepared  for  them  to  copy, 
would  be  wdllingly  as  well  as  correctly  done.  His  superior 
abilities  were  perhaps  the  more  readily  acknowledged,  be- 
cause associated  with  such  superior  kindness. 

After  leaving  the  grammar-school  and  entering  the  uni- 
versity, his  father's  resources  grew  somewhat  straitened. 
Unwilling,  therefore,  to  exhaust  on  himself  means  to  which 
he  felt  others  had  at  least  an  equal  claim,  he  generously 
resolved  on  the  sacrifice  of  leaving  the  university  before  tak- 
ing his  degree.  This,  with  his  sense  of  the  importance  of  a 
thorough  education,  must  have  been  a  painful  step.  It  left 
him  to  supply,  as  best  he  might,  the  deficiency  to  which  it 
doomed  him.  It  did  not,  however,  prevent  his  alma  mater 
from  subsequently  giving  him  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divin- 
ity. It  may  be  added,  that  during  liis  earlier  studies,  he  had 
made  considerable  progress  in  the  German  language ;  an 
acquisition  of  great  service  to  him  in  his  subsequent  practice 
among  his  German  clients  about  Norristown. 

He  commenced  the  study  of  the  law  with  Mr.  Howell, 
an  eminent  duaker  lawyer  of  Philadelphia.  This  was  prob- 
ably as  early  as  the  year  1789,  when  he  was  no  more  than 
sixteen  years  of  age ;  for  during  this  year  we  find  him  a 
member  of  a  debating  club.  Called  "  The  Ciceronian  Society," 
and,  as  one  of  its  members,  appointed  to  argue  an  important 
legal  question.  His  whole  argument  has  been  preserved  in 
manuscript ;  it  bears  clearly  the  impress  of  the  juvenile  age 
at  which  it  was  penned,  and  shows,  moreover,  the  disadvan- 
tages under  which  he  labored,  from  the  interruption  of  his 
earlier  classical  studies.  Still,  it  is  an  interesting  paper  ; 
especially  as  it  shows  him  to  have  become  already  warmly 
interested  in  the  Pennsylvania  penitentiary  system,  and  in 
measures  for  meliorating-  the  criminal  code  of  the  state  ;  and 
as  it  enables  us  to  trace  the  progress  of  his  mind,  in  style, 


18  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

and  thought,  and  legal  ahiUty,  hetween  this  period  and  that 
at  which,  four  or  five  years  later,  he  entered  on  the  practice 
of  the  law. 

He  continued  his  law  studies  with  Mr.  Howell  till  the 
year  1793,  when  that  gentleman  fell  a  victim  to  the  yellow- 
fever,  the  fearful  scourge  which,  at  that  time,  almost  deso- 
lated the  city  of  Philadelphia.  He  then  entered  the  office 
of  Mr.  Rawle,  with  whom  he  completed  his  preparatory 
legal  studies. 

In  the  summer  of  that  year  occurred  an  incident  deserv- 
ing record,  as  illustrative  of  some  beautiful  traits  in  his  char- 
acter. "When,  from  the  flight  of  its  inhabitants,  the  city 
had  become  almost  a  desert,  and  young  Milnor  was  finally 
induced  to  retire  to  Alexandria,  where  one  of  his  brothers 
then  resided,  he  embarked,  with  other  citizens,  in  a  schooner 
bound  to  that  port.  During  the  passage,  he  gave  a  striking 
proof  both  of  real  benevolence  and  of  true  courage.  Soon 
after  their  embarkation,  one  of  the  passengers  was  seized 
with  the  well-known  symptoms  of  the  dreaded  epidemic. 
The  captain,  crew,  and  all  the  other  passengers  forsook  the 
poor  victim,  and  left  him  to  his  fate.  But  in  young  Milnor 
was  found  another  spirit.  Although  he  had  a  peculiar  dread 
of  the  disease,  yet  he  remained  by  the  sick  man's  side,  and 
nobly  acted  as  his  faithful  nurse.  As  the  schooner's  medi- 
cine-chest contained  nothuig  but  herbs,  he  administered  to 
his  patient  a  variety  of  decoctions,  till,  as  the  last  spark  of 
hope  seemed  expiring,  a  profuse  perspiration  was  mduced, 
and  the  man  most  unexpectedly  recovered. 

His  admittance  to  the  bar  took  place  in  the  spring  of  1 794 ; 
and  at  the  May  term  of  the  same  year  he  was,  on  motion  of 
his  preceptor  Ilawle,  admitted  as  an  attorney  of  the  court 
of  Common  Pleas  for  the  comity  of  Montgomery.  He  was, 
therefore,  in  the  practice  of  the  law  before  he  reached  his 
legal  majority.  He  was  not  twenty-one  years  of  age  till 
about  a  month  after  he  became  a  practising  attorney,  or  on 
tlie  20th  of  June,  1794. 


HIS  LEGAL  PRACTICE.  19 

Previous  to  this  date,  however,  he  became  a  member, 
and  was  elected  president  of  "  The  Law  Society,"  in  Phila- 
delphia;  for  on  the  8th  of  February,  1794,  he  gave,  from 
the  presidential  chair  of  the  society,  an  extended  and  elabo- 
rate opinion,  drawn  np  with  all  the  gravity  and  precision, 
and  with  no  little  of  the  learning  of  a  judge,  on  the  question, 
•'  "Whether  a  jury,  in  an  action  of  ejectment,  can  find  the 
mesne  profits  in  damages  ?"  and,  apparently,  near  the  same 
date,  he  also  deUvered,  as  president  of  the  society,  an  address 
at  the  first  meeting  after  the  adoption  of  its  constitution. 
The  fact  of  his  being  president  of  the  association,  as  well  as 
the  comparatively  finished  and  very  judicious  character  of 
both  the  documents  to  which  I  have  referred,  speaks  well 
for  his  standing  and  attainments  as  a  student  of  the  law. 
In  truth,  between  liis  first  appearance  in  the  Ciceronian, 
and  his  performances  here  as  president  of  the  Law  Society, 
there  is  all  the  difTerence  that  can  well  be  imagined  between 
a  boy  of  sixteen,  and  a  young,  but  well-furnished  scholar  in 
legal  science. 

From  the  fact,  lying  on  the  records  of  the  court,  that 
when  admitted  as  an  attorney,  he  did  not  take  the  oath,  but 
only  gave  an  aJJirniatio7i,  it  appears  that  he  was  then  a 
regular  and  conscientious  member  of  the  society  of  Friends. 

Though  very  young,  and  youthful  in  appearance  even  for 
liis  years,  yet  his  practice  soon  became  respectable,  and  grew 
reasonably  lucrative.  It  lay  among  the  best  families  in 
Norristown,  and  he  retained  it  after  his  removal  from  the 
county  of  Montgomery.  The  date  of  his  return  to  his  native 
city  is  uncertam,  but  it  was  as  early  as  1797  ;  since,  in  June 
of  that  year,  he  was  again  an  active  member  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Law  Society  ;  and  in  August  of  the  same  year  was 
once  more  its  president. 

His  membership  in  the  societies  which  have  been  men- 
tioned, was  doubtless  of  gi*eat  practical  utility.  It  was  there 
that  he  early  acquired  the  somewhat  remarkable  readiness 
and  accuracy  in  extemporaneous  discussion  and  debate,  which 


20  MEMOIR,  OF  DE.  MILNOE. 

enabled  him  to  bear  so  active  and  prominent  a  part  in  the 
business  of  all  the  deliberative  bodies  in  which  he  was  sub- 
sequently called  to  act. 

The  incidents  of  his  life  while  engaged  in  legal  practice 
at  Norristown,  are  not  at  this  time  recoverable.  He  was 
yet  unmarried,  though  it  was  there  he  formed  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  lady  who  subsequently  became  his  wife.  It 
was  there,  too,  that  he  was  initiated,  and  entered,  with  the 
enthusiasm  of  youth,  into  the  mysteries  of  the  society  of 
"  Free  and  accepted  Masons."  In  a  diary,  which  he  after- 
wards began  to  keep,  and  under  date  of  March  17,  1800,  he 
writes,  "  I  was  elected  master  of  Lodge  No.  31,  while  I  re- 
sided in  Norristown ;  but  since  my  return  to  the  city,  I  have 
been  a  member  of  No.  3,  and  am  now  treasurer  of  the  latter." 
"  On  St.  John's  day,  December  27, 1798, 1  was  elected  senior- 
warden  of  the  Grand  Lodge ;  and  on  St.  John's  day,  Decem- 
ber 27,  1799,  was  unanimously  reelected  to  the  same  office." 
In  1805,  after  having  filled  many  important  subordinate 
offices,  he  was  elected  grand-master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  held  that  office,  by  yearly  reelections,  till 
1813,  the  great  turning-point  of  his  life. 

His  labors,  during  his  grand-mastership,  in  disseminating 
the  priuciples  of  the  order,  and  in  extending  its  prosperity, 
were  most  assiduous,  and  his  annual  communications  to  the 
lodges  under  his  charge  are  said  to  have  been  replete  with 
sound  and  wholesome  moral  instruction.  He  was  mainly 
instrumental  in  the  erection  of  the  old  Masonic  Hall  in  Ches- 
nut-strcct,  Philadelpliia,  and  conducted  the  ceremony  of  its 
dedication,  on  the  festival  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  June  24, 
1811.  In  St.  John's  Lutheran  church.  Race-street,  he  pro- 
nounced the  dedicatory  oration,  which  his  friend  Bradford 
calls  "graceful  in  delivery,  and  eloquent  in  itself;"  and  it 
was  on  this  occasion,  that,  as  they  left  the  church  together, 
his  friend  remarked  to  him,  "  Why,  Right- Worshipful,  you 
were  cut  out  for  a  parson ;"  little  dreaming  that  the  idea 
would  one  day  be  realized. 


HIS  LEaAL  PEACTICE.  21 

Concurrently  with  his  rehnquishment  of  legal  practice  in 
1813,  he  resigned  his  grand-mastership;  and,  upon  accept- 
ing his  resignation,  a  beautiful  and  costly  jewel,  now  in  pos- 
session of  the  family,  was  voted  to  him  by  the  Grand  Lodge, 
as  a  testimony  of  respect  and  attachment ;  its  delivery 
being  accompanied  by  appropriate  formalities  and  a  touch 
mg  address. 

With  many,  peradventure,  the  last  few  paragraphs  will 
throw  more  of  a  painful  than  of  a  pleasing  interest  round 
the  name  of  Milnor ;  nevertheless,  as  a  faithful  biographer, 
the  writer  could  hardly  with  propriety  keep  out  of  sight  so 
prominent  a  portion  of  his  early  life  as  was  liis  connection 
with  Free-masonry.  Besides,  whatever  mien's  present  views 
of  Masonry  may  have  become,  none  can  refuse  to  believe  that 
he  considered  the  principles  of  the  order  to  be  pure. 

On  the  5th  of  July,  1795,  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
"  The  Society  for  promoting  the  abolition  of  Slavery,  for  the 
rehef  of  free  negroes  unlawfully  held  in  bondage,  and  for 
improving  the  condition  of  the  African  race."  At  the  annual 
meeting  of  that  society  for  1796,  he  was  elected  one  of  its 
counsellors ;  and  for  several  succeeding  years  was  annually 
reelected  to  the  same  office.  In  1797  he  was  made  secre- 
tary, as  well  as  counsellor ;  and  continued  to  hold  both  offi- 
ces for  several  years.  In  his  diary  of  March  17,  1800,  he 
writes,  "  For  two  years  past,  the  partiality  of  my  fellow- 
members  has  honored  me  with  the  appointment  of  the  cor- 
responding committee  ;  and  besides  various  nominations  on 
special  committees,  I  was,  in  the  year  1798,  elected  one  of 
the  delegates  to  '  the  fifth  convention  of  delegates  from  the 
several  abolition  societies  in  the  United  States.'  Soon  after 
I  became  a  member,  I  went  through  my  routine  of  service 
(nine  months)  on  the  acting  committee  ;  and,  having  drafted 
the  address  of  our  society  to  the  fourth  and  fifth  conventions, 
I  have  been  requested  to  prepare  the  one  which  is  to  be  pre- 
sented to  the  sixth  convention,  to  be  held  in  this  city  on  the 
first  day  of  June  next." 


22  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

These  elections  and  appointments  were  not  unmeaning 
compliments.  They  were  selecticftis  of  a  man  who,  though 
young,  yet  entered  with  mature  heartiness  into  the  interests 
of  the  society  with  which  he  was  thus  incorporated.  If  he 
was  not  h(yrn  with  antislavery  feelings,  they  were  yet  quickly 
generated  in  his  heart  by  the  whole  moral  nurture  through 
which  his  infancy  and  cliildhood  were  carried  by  his  Q,uaker 
parents.  Besides  the  various  offices,  already  mentioned, 
which  he  filled,  he  was  attorney  to  the  society,  and  on  him 
devolved  the  burden  of  much  of  its  business.  The  society, 
it  is  believed,  was  founded  and  supported  chiefly  by  the 
duakers ;  and  the  zeal  and  ability  with  which  he  entered 
into  its  measures,  made  him  conspicuous  in  its  counsels  and 
influential  on  its  action. 

It  would  be  a  groundless  inference  to  conclude,  from 
what  has  now  been  said,  that  when  the  more  recent  aboli- 
tion movement  took  its  rise,  Dr.  Milnor  must  have  been 
found  among  its  active  supporters.  Such  was  not  the  posi- 
tion wliich  he  subsequently  assumed.  His  sympatliies  with 
the  slave  never  abated ;  but  they  enlisted  him,  at  a  later 
period,  in  the  cause  of  African  colonization,  and  in  the  chan- 
nel of  that  society's  labors  they  continued  strongly  to  flow. 
The  original  abolition  societies  of  this  country,  as  we  have 
seen,  aimed  at  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  the  Afri- 
can race,  and  at  the  relief  of  free  negroes  unlawfully  held  in 
bondage ;  while,  if  they  contemplated  the  abolition  of  the 
slave-trade  and  of  slavery  itself,  they  still  evidently  looked 
at  this  latter  result  as  a  point  to  be  reached,  not  directly, 
but  indirectly,  through  the  "  improvement,"  the  gradual  ele- 
vation "  of  the  African  race."  Under  the  quiet  forms  of  such 
an  organization,  and  amid  the  temperate  influences  which 
emanated  from  those  forms,  his  zeal  for  the  slave  was  early 
disciplined  ;  and  by  long  use,  he  became  habituated,  perhaps 
it  may  be  said,  unchangeably  habituated,  to  such  action  only 
as  those  forms  and  influences  admitted. 

At  an  early  period,  he  also  became  warmly  and  actively 


HIS  LEGAL  PRACTIQ.E.  23 

interested  in  the  fire  department  of  his  native  city.  In  De- 
cember, 1797,  he  says,  "A  number  of  young  men,  of  whom 
I  was  one,  associated  together  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a 
fire  company.  We  subscribed  fifteen  dollars  each  towards 
the  purchase  of  an  engine,  and  near  eight  dollars  each  for 
the  purchase  of  buckets.  Our  company  is  limited  to  sixty 
members.  We  have  been  full,  but  have  now,"  March  17, 
1800,  "  not  more  than  fifty  attending  members.  Soon  after 
its  formation,  the  company  honored  me  with  the  office  of 
president,  and  have  since,  at  each  successive  election,  con- 
tmued  me  in  that  station."  The  company  was  called  "The 
Resolution  Fire  Company." 

The  fire  companies  of  Philadelphia  were,  at  that  time, 
evidently  composed  of  respectable  young  gentlemen ;  and 
were  voluntary,  irresponsible  bodies,  acting  without  concert, 
and,  to  a  great  extent,  without  efl&ciency.  In  this  state 
they  continued  till  he  had  been  about  two  years  a  fireman. 
Early  in  the  winter  of  1800,  however,  having  deeply  felt 
the  serious  evils  incident  to  the  condition  of  the  fire  com- 
panies, he  attempted,  as  president  of  the  Resolution  Fire 
Company,  to  introduce  a  new  order  of  things ;  and  his  la- 
bors, in  conjunction  with  those  of  his  fellow-firemen,  resulted 
in  giving  existence  to  "  The  Philadelphia  Fire  Association  " — 
a  body  of  form,  system,  and  efliciency,  in  the  place  of  what 
had  before  been  a  formless,  ungoverned,  and  in  a  great 
measure  inefficient  multitude  of  firemen. 

The  details  of  his  labors  and  of  the  posts  of  honor  which 
he  occupied,  in  connection  with  this  association,  as  recorded 
in  liis  diary,  illustrate  Mr.  Milnor's  talents  for  business,  the 
readiness  with  which  he  engaged  in  every  thing  that  con- 
cerned the  public  welfare,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  in- 
fused life  and  activity  into  the  various  bodies  to  which  he 
belonged.  He  evidently  considered  the  fire  department  an 
important  institution  ;  and  felt  that  his  post  of  service  in  it 
was  highly  useful,  and  because  useful,  therefore  honorable. 

In  July,  1798,  the  yellow-fever  again  invaded  Philadel- 


24  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

phia,  and  continued,  for  several  months,  to  rage  with  truly- 
desolating  violence.  Early  in  August,  his  father's  family, 
where  he  still  had  his  home,  broke  up,  and  dispersed.  He 
makes  the  following  entry  in  his  diary,  August  11:*'  The 
yellow-fever  made  its  appearance  in  tliis  city  about  two 
weeks  since.  Preparations  for  escaping  its  destructive  rav- 
ages have  so  engrossed  my  time,  that,  for  some  days  past,  I 
have  omitted  to  pay  any  attention  to  my  diary.  To-day, 
my  father's  family  are  removing  to  Mr.  Aaron  Oakford's, 
near  Darby  ;  my  sister  Anna  starts  for  Elkton ;  and  I  go  to 
Norristown.  Thus  distributed,  God  knows  when  it  will  be 
our  fortune  again  to  unite  at  our  home." 

The  pestilence  raged  horribly.  His  diary  for  Septem- 
ber 5,  gives  a  lively  idea  of  the  state  of  the  city,  and  at  the 
same  time  of  the  tenderness  of  his  nature. 

"  The  accounts  from  Philadelphia  are  to  the  last  degree 
distressing.  On  the  list  of  victims  to  the  ruthless  destroyer, 
1  find  the  names  of  several  of  my  friends  ;"  especially  that 
of  "  my  ever-to-be-lamented  friend  Dr.  Francis  Bowes  Say  re. 
This  gentleman  fell  a  glorious  martyr  to  liis  philantliropy. 

"A  most  aflecting  address  has  been  published  by  the 
board  of  health.  They  declare  their  eflbrts  to  arrest  the 
progress  of  pestilence  and  death  to  be  vain.  Safety  is  to  be 
secured  only  by  flight.  Indeed,  the  greater  part  of  those 
who  have  the  means,  have  already  deserted  this  dreadful 
place.  But  the  poor  I  How  must  the  heart  of  every  feel- 
ing man  be  melted  at  the  description  which  is  given  of  their 
horrid  situation.  Never  did  time  and  opportunity  ofier  when 
it  more  properly  behooved  the  rich  to  extend  relief  and  pres- 
ervation to  this  unfortunate  class  of  our  fellow-men.  Past 
experience  authorizes  the  anticipation  that  the  occasion  will 
be  embraced  with  a  cordiality  worthy  of  generous  minds." 

"November  4,  1798. — It  is  two  months  this  day  since 
I  have  made  a  minute  in  my  diary.  During  all  this  time, 
I  have  led  the  dull  and  monotonous  hfe  of  an  idle  man. 
Expelled  from  home  by  the  dreadful  scourge  which  has  un- 


HIS  LEGAL  PRACTICE.  25 

ceasingly  ravaged  tlie  city  since  the  beginning  of  August 
last,  I  have  had  no  business,  except  my  small  practice  in 
Montgomery  county,  to  attend  to.  Yesterday  I  returned  to 
the  city,  my  father  and  his  family  having  arrived  a  few 
d^ys  before  me.  The  streets  have  not  yet  resumed  their 
i:?ual  cheerfulness  ;  nor  can  s,uch  a  thing  be  looked  for  very 
soon,  considering  the  loss,  by  death,  of  3,446  of  our  inhabi- 
tants, and  all  the  variety  of  miseries  attendant  and  conse- 
quent on  such  a  mortality.  Other  accounts  make  the  number 
of  deaths  3,637." 

The  principal  object  in  referring  to  these  ravages  of  the 
fever,  is  to  show  how  they  introduced  important  incidents 
in  his  life.  During  his  temporary  retirement,  having  re- 
sumed his  law  practice  in  the  courts  of  Montgomery  county, 
he  engaged  as  counsel  for  plaintifi^  in  trying  an  important 
cause — the  demand  upon  defendant  being  for  £1,161.  He 
obtained  a  verdict  for  his  chent,  awarding  the  full  amount 
claimed.  His  argument  was  regarded  as  one  of  his  best 
efforts,  and  raised  him  high  in  public  favor.  He  says  of  it 
in  his  diary, 

"  I  have  the  great  satisfaction  of  finding  my  conduct  in 
this  business  very  generally  approved ;  and  have  received 
many  flattering  encomiums  from  the  jury  to  whom  my 
speech  was  addressed.  I  never  felt  myself  better  master  of 
my  subject,  nor  better  inclination  for  doing  justice  to  it ;  but 
the  weather  is  so  excessively  warm,  that  I  find  standing  on 
my  feet  for  an  hour  and  a  quarter  has  excessively  fatigued 
me." 

But  the  most  interesting  result  of  his  summer  and  au- 
tumn retreat  from  Philadelphia  grew  out  of  his  intercourse, 
during  that  time,  with  the  family  of  M^.  Henry  Pawling,  a 
substantial  farmer  near  Norristown.  Of  this  intercourse  he 
gives  some  glowing  accounts ;  and  it  was  doubtless  the  oc- 
casion of  ripening  in  him  a  most  true  and  tender  affection 
for  the  only  daughter  of  that  gentleman,  the  amiable  Miss 
Eleanor  Pawling.     She  became  his  wife,  their  marriage  be- 

Mem.  Miluor.  ^ 


26  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

ing  celebrated  not  long  after  his  return  to  the  city.  With 
tliis  lady  he  lived  till  the  day  of  his  death,  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  a  confidence,  an  afiection,  and  a  happiness,  which 
soberly  realized  much,  if  not  all  of  the  bright  imaginings 
which  he  records  on  the  day  of  their  marriage.  His  record 
is  as  follows : 

"February  28,  1799. — This  day,  the  happiest  of  my 
life,  I  was  united  in  marriage  with  my  best  of  friends,' 
Eleanor  Pawling,  daughter  of  Henry  Pawling,  Esq.,  of 
Montgomery  county. 

"  'This  was  the  day — the  eager  wished-for  day, 
My  greedy  soul  had  treasured  up  so  long, 
And,  in  contracting  fancy,  half-possessed, 
To  blot  out  every  blacker  hour  of  life. 
And  pay,  with  double  interest  of  joys, 
Courtship's  dull  toils  and  expectation's  pangs : 
The  day  has  now  arrived,  and  brings  more  joy 
Than  keen  imagination's  self  e'er  hoped.' 

'*  This  is  the  state  to  which  all  my  reflections  have  taught 
me  to  look,  as  the  happiest  with  which  it  has  pleased  a  be- 
neficent Providence  to  bless  liis  creature  man.  In  the  pos- 
session of  the  woman  who  has  my  first  and  warmest  love, 
and  perfectly  assured  of  a  reciprocity  of  afiection,  I  look  for- 
ward to  the  enjoyment  of  many  happy  days." 

Shortly  after  Mr.  Milnor's  marriage,  occurred  an  incident 
which,  peradventure,  proved  the  remote  antecedent  of  an 
important  consequence.  Till  his  marriage  he  lived,  as  he 
had  been  educated,  a  Quaker.  His  education,  indeed,  had  not ' 
been  one  of  great  strictness  in  the  customs  of  the  Friends ; 
still,  it  had  induced  him  not  to  forsake  the  ways  of  his  par- 
ents and  remoter  ancestry.  But  his  marriage  led  to  the 
severance  of  the  bond  which  had  thus  far  detained  liim 
among  thp  religious  followers  of  William  Penn.  The  sever- 
ance, moreover,  was  not,  on  his  part,  voluntary ;  it  was  on 
their  part,  disciplinary.  His  wife  belonged  to  an  Episcopal 
family;  and  they  were  married  by  a  clergyman  who  was 


HIS  LEGAL  PRACTICE.  27 

willing  to  receive  a  wedding  fee.  For  these  things  he  was, 
in  due  process  of  time  and  form,  read  out  of  meeting ;  and 
thus,  though  not  immediately,  yet  ultimately  became  a 
member  and  a  minister  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church. 
In  later  years,  when  he  came  to  have  some,  however  inade- 
quately serious  thoughts,  he  thus  alludes  to  this  penal  con- 
sequence of  his  marriage  : 

"  On  the  subject  of  religion  I  have  thought  much,  but 
not  profitably.  Born  of  parents  connected  with  the  society 
of  Q.uakers,  in  my  youth  I  attended  their  places  of  public 
worship ;  but  my  education  was  little  conformed  to  the 
strictness  of  their  religious  discipline  ;  and,  with  the  utmost 
respect  for  the  society,  I  could  not  but  believe  that  there 
was,  among  its  members,  much  of  enthusiasm,  and  a  degree 
of  useless  rigor  in  the  non-essential  articles  of  dress  and  ad- 
dress. My  marriage  to  a  lady  not  a  member  of  the  society 
of  Friends,  occasioned  my  disownment ;  and  since  that 
event,  which  happened  in  the  year  1799,  I  have  seldom 
gone  to  their  meetings." 

The  form  of  liis  disownment  has  been  preserved,  and  is 
here  inserted. 

"  At  a  monthly  meeting  of  Friends  of  Philadelphia,  held 
29th  of  eleventh  month,.  1799,  the  following  testimony  was 
agreed  to,  and  a  copy  directed  to  be  given  to  the  party: 
namely, 

"  James  Milnor,  of  this  city,  attorney  at  law,  who  had 
a  birthright  among  us  the  people  called  duakers,  disregard- 
ing the  order  of  our  discipline,  hath  accomplished  his  mar- 
riage, with  the  assistance  of  a  hireling  minister,  to  a  woman 
not  professing  with  us  ;  and,  in  his  dress  and  address,  devi- 
ated from  that  plainness  and  moderation  consistent  with 
our  religious  profession ;  for  which  deviations  he  hath  been 
treated  with,  but  without  the  desired  effect.  We  therefore 
no  longer  consider  him  a  member  of  our  religious  society ; 
nevertheless,  desire  he  may  become  duly  sensible  of  his  er- 
rors and  seek  to  be  restored." 


28  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

How  sincerely  they  desired  his  restoration  we  may  judge 
from  the  fact,  that  a  committee,  probably  that  which  was 
appointed  to  "treat"  with  him,  made  a  proposal,  when  they 
called,  to  reinstate  him  on  some  slight  acknowledgment  of 
error.  They  were  evidently  very  unwilling  to  lose  a  man 
whose  general  Ufe  was  so  irreproachable,  and  who  was  so 
rapidly  rising  to  influence  in  his  native  city.  He  received 
their  proposal  kindly,  but  facetiously  replied  to  it,  that  it 
was  "  rather  too  much  to  ask  of  a  man  whose  honeymoon 
was  scarcely  ended,  and  that  he  must  decline." 

In  August,  1799,  the  yellow-fever  made  its  third  entry 
into  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Milnor  therefore  removed  his  family 
to  the  country,  where  they  took  up  their  residence  with  his 
father-in-law.  By  the  20th  of  October,  however,  they  had 
returned  to  the  city  ;  the  pestilence  having,  on  this  occasion, 
assumed  a  milder  type  than  on  either  of  its  preceding  visits. 

It  is  now  time  to  look  at  Mr.  Milnor's  character  and 
standing  as  a  la^vj^er ;  for  he  had  already  given  decisive 
proofs  of  what,  in  this  capacity,  he  was  to  become. 

An  entry  in  his  diary,  made  so  late  as  June  6,  1800,  be 
ing  a  retrospect  for  the  purpose  of  notmg  his  success  or  his 
failure  in  realizing  and  investing  pecuniary  results,  has  a 
paragraph  which  throws  some  light  upon  his  Norristown 
life  ;  while  at  the  same  time  it  illustrates  the  modesty  with 
which  he  entered  on  legal  practice. 

"I  commenced  my  career  with  nothing  but  a  small 
stock,  say  eighty  pounds'  worth  of  books,  the  very  moderate 
^.bilities  bestowed  on  me  by  nature,  and  an  education  which 
gave  me  no  more  reason  to  boast  of  my  acquircinerUs  than 
I  before  had  with  regard  to  natural  cndoxnncnU.  My  out- 
set in  practice  was  made  under  heavy  disadvantages.  Re- 
moving, hnmcdiatcly  after  my  admission,  into  Montgomery 
coimty,  before  I  had  quite  attained  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years;  unacquainted  with  the  world,  and  unknown  to  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  county  except  two  or  three  persons ; 
possessed  of  very  httle  of  that  great  requisite,  assurance ; 


HIS  LEGAL  PUACTICl^.  29 

and  totally  inexperienced  in  the  practice  of  my  profession,  it 
is  not  surprising  that  I  did  not  make  greater  progress  in 
business  during  my  residence  there.  Indeed,  the  progress 
which  I  did  make  was  beyond  my  own  expectations ;  and 
though  I  feel  no  disposition  to  eulogize  my  subsequent  efforts, 
yet  I  cannot  say  that,  since  my  return  to  the  city,  my  advan- 
ces have  been  slower  than  I  had  been  led  to  anticipate."  . 

The  views  which  prompted  him  to  commence  the  diary 
from  which  the  foregoing  extracts  have  been  made,  are  per- 
haps of  sufficient  interest  to  justify  their  insertiori. 

"June  15,  1798. — The  practice  of  making  and  preserv- 
ing notes  of  a  man's  daily  transactions,  connected  with  such 
occurrences  as  are  happening  around  him,  as  well  in  the  pri- 
vate as  in  the  public  departments  of  society,  with  such  reflec- 
tions as  his  observation  may  suggest,  has,  by  many  very 
respectable  men  in  the  literary  world,  been  declared  to  be 
profitable  and  pleasing. 

"  Their  opinion  of  its  utility  has  been  founded  upon  actual 
experience,  and  is  therefore  entitled  to  the  highest  credit.  It 
detracts  not  from  the  solidity  of  this  opinion,  when  I  acknow- 
ledge that  the  usefulness  of  a  diary  is  diminished  as  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  man  who  keeps  it  is  narrower,  and  as  his  means 
of  information  and  observation  are  more  confined.  Or  per- 
haps it  would  place  the  matter  in  a  juster  point  of  light  to 
say,  that  the  journal  of  a  man  of  understanding  and  science 
is  highly  useful  to  himself  and  to  all  ivho  enjoy  the 'privilege 
of  its  2-)erusal ;  while  that  of  a  man  who  can  lay  no  great 
claim  to  either  understanding  or  science,  is  profitable  only 
to  himself  And  its  usefulness  to  himself  depends  not  on  the 
intrinsic  value  of  his  reflections,  or  the  extent  of  his  obser- 
vations. It  serves  principally  to  recall  to  his  recollection 
events  which,  from  the  feebleness  of  his  retentive  powers, 
would  otherwise  be  lost  to  him.  It  may  be  an  amusement 
to  revive  in  his  own  mind  the  remembrance  of  circumstances 
which  are  utterly  unimportant  to  all  the  rest  of  the  world. 
It  may,  in  various  contingences,  be  essentially  serviceable  to 


30  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

him  to  be  able  to  ascertain  when  events  happened,  which,  in 
themselves,  or  in  relation  to  other  events  either  closely  or 
remotely  connected  with  them,  it  is  of  great  importance  to 
ascertain.  We  know  what  Hume  and  other  writers  have 
said  of  the  association  of  ideas ;  and  every  one's  own  expe- 
rience will  supply  him  with  numerous  instances,  in  which 
things  have  been  brought  to  his  recollection  by  the  remem- 
brance of  circumstances  trivial  in  themselves,  and  apparently 
unconnected  with  what  they  bring  to  mind. 

"  To  these  advantages,  which  a  person  of  indifferent  abil- 
ities may  derive  from  a  diary,  it  should  be  added,  that  the 
human  mind  is  never  in  so  degraded  a  state  as  to  be  incapable 
of  improvement.  The  custom  of  noting  down  reflections 
and  observations  may  induce  a  hahii  of  reflecting  and  observ- 
ing. This  habit,  no  doubt,  is  the  discoverer  of  faults ;  and, 
in  a  mind  possessed  of  the  least  ingenuousness,  the  discovery 
of  a  fault  is  accompanied  by  regret  that  it  should  exist,  and 
followed  by  resolutions  of  a  corrective  nature.  Here,  then, 
is  a  benefit  amply  compensating  the  trouble,  a  reward  over- 
paying the  labor  of  half  an  hour's  clerkship  each  day. 

"How  important  are  the  inquiries  which  it  satisfies. 
How  have  I  spent  my  time  ?  What  have  I  been  doing  ? 
Have  I  any  knowledge  of  past  times,  except  the  ability  of 
numbering  the  years  and  months  that  have  rolled  unimprov- 
ed away  ?  If  I  remember  incidents  that  have  occurred, 
did  those  incidents  suggest  profitable  reflections  ?  If  they 
did,  have  I  retained  the  impressions  which  they  made  at  the 
time ;  or  have  they  since  been  the  foundation  of  advance- 
ment in  intellectual  improvement  ? 

"  If  I  find  myself  obliged  to  answer  these  inquiries  m  a 
way  of  which  I  am  ashamed,  it  produces  regrets  and  anxi- 
eties, which  I  shall  not  be  willing  again  to  experience.  New 
resolutions  are  formed,  and  another  self-examination  results 
in  emotions  of  a  very  difiercnt  nature. 

"  There  is,  in  trutli,  no  happiness,  this  side  of  the  grave, 
superior  to  that  of  having  done  one's  duty;  and  present 


HIS  LEQAL  PRACTIO^E.  31 

objects  arc  often  of  so  delusive  a  kind,  that  it  is  not  until 
they  have  passed  by,  and  their  images  are  retraced  on  the 
mind,  that  we  form  notions  in  any  way  just  respecting  them. 
I  do  an  act  which,  from  present  feeling,  I  believe  mnocent, 
perhaps  praiseworthy.  Let  me  note  it  down,  and  some  time 
hence  review  it;  I  may  discover  that,  so  far  from  being 
praiseworthy,  it  was  not  even  innocent.  It  cannot  be  re- 
called, but  the  discovery  which  I  have  made  will  prevent  its 
repetition. 

"  If  the  weakness  of  our  nature  produces  self-satisfaction 
in  the  performance  of  our  own  actions,  so  it  not  unfrequently 
leads  us  into  unjust  censures  upon  those  of  other  persons. 
A  good  man  will  feel  happy,  in  these  cases,  to  find  himself 
mistaken  ;  and  his  diary  may  be  the  means  of  afibrding  him 
this  happiness. 

"  While  on  this  subject,  it  might  be  added,  that  as  no 
one  likes  another  as  well  as  himself,  why  should  not  conver- 
sation with  one's  self  be  more  gratifying  than  with  another  ? 
Happy,  indeed,  is  he  whose  stores  of  intellectual  acquirement 
afibrd  a  constant  source  from  which  that  gratification  may  at 
all  times  be  derived.  To  such  a  man  no  hour  is  vacant  or 
heavy.  He  complains  not  of  the  leaden  wings  of  Time  ;  he 
looks  not  anxiously  forward  to  the  hour  of  rest ;  but,  when 
it  arrives,  regrets  that  nature  should  require  this  temporary 
suspension  of  his  faculties.  The  prospect  of  a  visit  in  his 
slumbers  from  the  airy  goddess  Fancy,  and  of  his  awaking 
with  redoubled  vigor  and  strength  for  new  exertions,  is  his 
only  consolation. 

"  Reflections  like  the  foregoing  have  induced  me  to  at- 
tempt a  diaiy,  and  I  mean  to  include  in  it  all  such  matters 
of  business,  amusement,  observation,  sentiment,  and  reflec- 
tion, as  occasion  and  the  routine  of  daily  transactions  may 
suggest.  I  do  not  mean  to  make  it  a  minute  or  formal  affair, 
nor  altogether  uninterrupted  ;  but  as  it  is  intended  solely  for 
my  own  perusal,  its  irregularity  and  want  of  order  will  be 
miimportant." 


32  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

From  this  opening  of  his  diary,  it  is  evident  that  nothing 
of  religious  motive  or  principle  entered  into  the  combination 
of  views  by  which,  at  the  outset  of  active  hfe,  he  was  influ- 
enced. And  yet,  we  perceive  in  it  a  disposition  thoroughly 
to  inspect,  and  honestly  to  judge  himself,  and  a  purpose  prac- 
tically to  discipline,  and  really  to  improve  his  mind,  from 
which  self-knowledge  and  self-culture  might  reasonably  have 
been  anticipated  ;  and  Avhich,  if  ever  brought  under  the  con- 
trol of  religious  motive  and  principle,  would  be  highly  prom 
issory  of  a  thorough  and  eminent  Christian  character. 

The  first  entry  in  his  diary  illustrates  a  prominent  trait 
in  his  habits  as  a  man  of  business. 

"June  15,  1798. — Is  there  a  greater  evil  than  that  of 
being  in  debt,  without  the  means  of  getting  out  of  debt  ? 
There  may  be  greater  evils  than  this,  and  my  imagination 
may  give  it  a  coloring  which  it  does  not  deserve  ;  but  what- 
ever foundation  there  may  be  for  the  belief,  that  it  is  not  so 
great  an  evil  as  I  suppose  it  to  be,  it  w^ould  require  some 
argument  to  alter  my  conceptions  on  the  subject. 

"  My  next  door  neighbor  is  in  debt.  Upwards  of  two 
years  ago  he  borrowed  from  me  about  two  hundred  dollars, 
and  immediately  afterwards  one  hundred  and  ten  more. 
The  latter  sum  he  engaged  to  return  in  twenty-four  hours. 
I  have  never  received  a  shilling  of  these  sums  in  money  ;  but 
as  he  is  a  bookseller,  I  have,  at  his  earnest  solicitation,  taken 
books  of  him  to  the  amount  of  nearly  two-thirds  of  the 
demand.  His  note  for  the  balance  is  now  due,  and  he  urges 
me  to  take  books  in  payment.  I  have  agreed  to  take  Viner's 
Abridgment,  which  satisfies  the  debt,  except  thirty  or  forty 
dollars. 

"  During  the  whole  of  the  time  since  the  loan,  he  has 
persevered  in  a  system  of  crmging  prevarication  and  prom- 
ises, which  he  must  have  known  at  the  time  he  dealt  them 
out,  he  never  would  fulfil.  Various  artifices,  false  tales, 
shifts,  and  pretences,  has  he  made  use  of;  and  I  have  been 
the  dupe  of  them.     I  cannot  believe  him  to  be  so  destitute 


HIS  LEGAL  PRACTICE-;  33 

of  feeling  as  not  to  be  mortified  and  degraded  in  his  own 
estimation,  by  the  imagined  necessity  of  resorting  to  them. 
But  in  the  one  case,  or  the  other,  I  am  unable  to  paint  to 
myself  a  more  humiliating  situation  for  a  human  being  to 
stand  in. 

*'  I  have  derived  from  this  transaction  two  pieces  of 
instruction,  which  are,  in  my  view,  an  adequate  compensa- 
tion for  the  loss  of  the  whole  sum,  had  such  an  event  hap- 
pened. 

"1.  To  be  cautious  of  hastily  and  unadvisedly  lending 
money  to  a  man  of  whose  ability  and  punctuality  I  am  not 
well  assured,  unless  it  be  accompanied  with  adequate  se- 
curity. 

"2.  To  adhere  religiously  to  a  determination  which  I 
formed  at  the  moment  of  my  commencing  business,  never  to 
incur  a  debt  which  I  have  the  remotest  apprehension  of  being 
unable,  or  even  finding  it  inconvenient  to  discharge.  And, 
in  order  constantly  to  possess  the  means  of  keeping  this 
resolution,  whatever  my  income  may  be,  always  to  live 
within  it." 

Tliis  extract  shows  with  what  feelings  of  high  integrity 
Mr.  Milnor  entered  on  the  business  of  life.  The  rules  which 
he  adopted  from  the  outset,  never  to  get  into  debt  without 
the  most  reliable  means  of  getting  out  of  debt ;  always  to 
live  ivitJiin  his  income  ;  and  never  to  lend  money  without 
adequate  security,  are  unspeakably  important  to  every  man 
of  business.  To  these  rules  Mr.  Milnor  was  faithful,  and  to 
his  fidelity  he  owed,  under  Providence,  his  uniformly  increas- 
ing prosperity.  His  annual  income  always  exceeded  liis 
annual  expenditure,  and  so  far  as  it  can  be  ascertained  from 
his  diary,  that  income  sustained  a  steady  increase.  He  gives 
an  occasional  inventory  of  his  effects,  and  a  frequent  state- 
ment of  his  income  and  expenses  ;  and  the  result  uniformly 
shows  that  he  was  steadily,  and  not  only  so,  but  more  and 
more  rapidly,  rising  in  wealth. 

He  was  peculiarly  strict  with  himself  touching  funds 
2* 


34  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

collected  for  his  clients,  never  allowing  himself  to  have  on 
deposit  to  their  credit  less  than  the  full  amount  of  his  col 
lections  for  them.  Once,  indeed,  on  settling  his  accounts  at 
bank,  he  discovered  that  he  had  drawn  a  small  amount  be- 
yond what  belonged  to  him ;  or  had  less  left  on  deposit  than 
the  amount  then  due  his  clients.  The  discovery  was  dis- 
turbing, and  he  instantly  took  measures  for  putting  his 
accounts  in  their  proper  state.  "  I  have  made  it  an  invari- 
able rule,"  he  whites,  in  his  diary,  *'  since  I  have  been  in 
business,  never  to  intrench  upon  clients'  money,  and  although 
I  am  well  persuaded  that  this  first  deviation  will  not  subject 
me  to  any  inconvenience,  yet  I  have  made  a  memorandum 
of  it  for  two  purposes  : 

**  1.  That  I  may  with  all  diligence  replace  this  $101  83 
in  bank. 

"  2.  That  I  may  be  more  careful  in  future,  and  not  sub- 
ject myself  to  the  possibility  of  mconvenience  or  anxiety." 

His  horror  of  debt,  and  of  an  unfaithful  management  of 
trusts,  gained  him  universal  confidence,  and  won  for  him  the 
distinction  of  "  the  honest  lawyer."  A  pleasing  illustra- 
tion of  the  confidence  reposed  in  his  honesty  w^as  furnished 
at  a  later  period,  when  he  had  been  prevailed  on  to  stand 
candidate  for  a  seat  in  Congress.  On  the  day  of  the  elec- 
tion he  walked  to  the  polls,  in  company  with  his  friend 
Bradford.  As  they  approached  they  saw  a  gentleman  busily 
engaged  in  distributing  votes  among  the  crowd.  This  gen- 
tleman was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Milnor,  a  brother 
Freemason,  and  one  of  his  clients,  and  yet  opposed  to  him 
in  political  views.  They  saluted  each  other  kindly,  when 
the  following  brief  colloquy  ensued.  "  Well,  Right- Worship- 
ful," said  the  vote-distributer,  "  here  am  I,  working  against 
you  hard  as  I  can.  I  tell  you,  and  our  mutual  friend  Brad- 
ford, I  would  trust  you  with  all  my  business,  my  proiierty, 
and  even  my  wife  and  children;  but  I  cannot  trust  you 
with  my  polities''  "  I  thank  you,"  replied  Mr.  Milnor,  *'  I 
thank  you,  my  brother,  for  your  confidence.     Do  your  duty, 


HIS  LEG-AL   PRACTICE,.  35 

and  let  the  result  be  what  it  may,  it  shall  never  break  our 
friendship."  Justly,  indeed,  might  such  a  tribute  to  his 
honesty  mitigate,  though  it  doubtless  failed  to  extinguish  his 
regret  at  finding  in  a  personal  friend  a  political  enemy. 

As  an  honest  lawyer,  he  would  not  undertake  a  case  in 
which,  so  far  as  his  judgment  was  clear,  he  saw  that  he 
would  be  obliged  to  argue  and  to  act  against  truth,  justice, 
and  equity.  Doubtless  he  judged  not  so  rigorously  in  these 
respects  as  he  did  in  later  years ;  but  judging  as  an  honest 
man  of  the  world,  he  was  faithful  to  his  conscience.  What 
this  told  him  was  clearly  wrong,  he  Avould  not  undertake. 
But  then,  acting  on  this  principle,  he  was  all  the  more  ear- 
nest, thorough,  and  persevering  in  the  prosecution  of  a  cause, 
when  once  undertaken — all  the  more  faithful,  ■e-ealous,  and 
devoted  to  a  client,  when  he  had  once  allow-d  himself  to  be 
retained  as  counsel,  or  engaged  as  ar^^ocate.  He  never 
winked  at  the  remissness  of  a  brother  lawyer  by  consenting 
to  postpone  a  trial,  especially  when  he  would  thereby  jeopard 
the  cause,  or  compromise  the  interests  of  his  client.  Nor 
did  he  withhold  aught  which  i^itiring  dihgence  and  unslum- 
bermg  vigilance  could  contribute,  towards  defeating  the  sin- 
ister arts  and  the  embarrassing  influence  of  liis  opponent, 
however  powerful.  His  zeal  in  the  causes  which  he  under- 
took, was  true  and  long-lived.  Being  fed  with  the  good  oil 
of  an  app^ving  conscience,  its  flame  never  went  out,  nor 
even  fl/ckered.  He  was  not  like  the  man  whose  zeal  is 
qujclfly  extinguished  by  external  difficulties,  because  it  has 
iirst  died  at  his  own  consciously  hollow  and  dishonest  heart. 

As  illustrative  of  this  remark,  he  had,  in  a  certain  case, 
for  several  years  been  prosecuting  a  claim  against  the  cele- 
brated Stephen  Girard.  This  gentleman;  meanwhile,  had 
been  throwing  in  the  way  of  a  settlement  every  possible 
obstacle  which  immense  wealth,  and  its  accompanying  in- 
fluences, could  raise.  But  finding  that  Mr.  Milnor  was  de- 
termined to  establish  the  claim,  and  that  he  could  not  be 
wearied  out  by  "  the  law's  delay,"  nor  circumvented  by  any 


36  MEMOIR  OF  BR.  MILNOE.  . 

other  of  the  arts  of  practice,  he  finally  consented  to  ahide 
the  result  of  an  arbitration.  This  result  was  m  favor  of  Mr. 
Milnor's  client,  and  when  Mr.  Girard  handed  Mr.  Milnor  a 
check  for  the  amount  awarded,  he  observed,  "You  have 
proved  yourself,  sir,  a  lawyer  who  will  never  desert  a  client. 
If  I  had  not  an  attorney  whom  I  very  much  respect,  you 
would  be  my  man."  The  observation  shows  that  true  fidel- 
ity to  a  client  is  not  lost  even  on  an  opponent. 

Based  on  the  foundation  of  such  a  character  for  honesty 
and  fidelity,  the  structure  of  his  influence  as  a  lawj^er  was 
reared  by  a  variety  of  causes.  As  his  honesty  gave  him  an 
unfainting  constancy  to  the  interests  of  his  clients,  so  his 
prudent  caution  and  sound  judgment  in  forming  an  opinion, 
ministered  to  a  decided  promptness  and  energy  of  action 
when  that  opinion  was  formed.  Great  amiableness  of  dis- 
position, and  suavity  of  manners,  won  him  hosts  of  friends. 
And  then,  he  was  distitvguished  for  habits  of  diligence,  and 
application  both  to  business  and  to  study.  His  industry  was, 
in  truth,  as  untiring  as  his  zeal.  By  early  rising,  strict 
punctuality,  and  the  closest  economy  of  time,  while  he  gen- 
erally had  an  hour  for  a  friend,  \q  contrived  to  dispatch  a 
great  amount  of  business,  and  no  sm^ll  amount  of  legal  and 
general  reading.  He  was  a  strict  adher^^t  to  method  in  all 
thuigs.  His  habits,  in  this  respect,  cleaved  V)  him  like  an 
inseparable  garment ;  he  wore  them  through  life,  and  they 
proved  of  immense  value  to  himself  and  to  others.^  The 
following  entry  in  his  diary  shows  what  these  habits  led  l&n, 
in  a  moderate  way,  to  attempt ;  and  though  he  was  often 
prevented  from  closely  followuig  the  plan  here  sketched,  yet 
it  marks,  on  the  whole,  the  general  order  of  his  life  while 
he  continued  in  the  practice  of  the  law. 

"June  20,  1798. — How  inconsistent  is  the  conduct  of 
man  I  How  frequently  variant  are  his  practices  from  his 
precepts  I  How  much  easier  to  conceive  than  to  execute 
what  is  right  I  In  one  point,  more  particularly  than  in  any 
other,  I  feel  myself  to  be  this  mconsistent  being.     I  have 


HIS  LEGAL  PRACTICE.  37 

always  been  persuaded  of  the  utility  and  indispensableness 
of  METHOD,  in  business  and  in  study.  It  has  always  been 
the  subject  of  my  encomiums,  and  I  have  believed  it  to  be 
equally  useful  to  the  man  of  genius  and  talents,  and  to  the 
man  of  plain  common-sense.  In  my  professional  practice, 
although  I  cannot  pique  myself  on  my  regularity,  yet  has  it 
not  been  totally  neglected.  But  in  my  studies  I  have,  on 
this  head,  been  careless  to  a  very  blamable  degree.  When 
I  have  chalked  it  out,  something  invariably  intervenes  to 
obliterate  my  plan. 

"  What  if  I  were  now  to  begin  upon  a  moderate  scale, 
and  without  venturing  hastily  upon  rash  resolutions,  limit 
myself  to  a  certain  system  for  a  month  to  come  ?  Suppose 
that  system  were  something  like  the  following : 

"1.  To  rise  early — say,  at  least,  by  five — take  up  Bur- 
rows' Reports,  and  apply  myself  to  it  till  about  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  before  breakfast ;  this  quarter  of  an  hour  to  be  spent 
in  dressing. 

"2.  After  breakfast,  on  entering  my  office,  to  attend  to 
the  most  prominent  and  urgent  business  of  the  day,  and  de- 
vote the  forenoon  to  matters  of  practice.  This  will  com- 
prise attention  to  the  calls  of  clients,  occasional  out-of-door 
errands,  keeping  up  docket,  drawing  declarations,  preparing 
for  trials  and  arguments,  and  attendance  at  courts,  which, 
for  a  few  days  from  this  time,  will  engross  part  of  the  after- 
noon also. 

"3.  After  dinner,  some  historical,  classical,  or  miscella- 
neous book  may  occupy  an  hour  ;  say,  for  the  ensuing  month, 
Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations.  The  remainder  of  the  after- 
noon may  be  devoted  to" — perhaps,  had  he  finished  the 
sentence,  he  would  have  added,  "  lighter  kinds  of  reading." 

"  4.  The  evenings  during  this  month  are  short  and  warm, 
and  may  therefore  be  given  to  exercise,  or  to  conversation. 

"  I  confess  I  like  my  scheme,  and  will  endeavor  to  sum- 
mon to  my  aid  resolution  enough  strictly  to  adhere  to  it." 

He  liked  it  none  the  less  when,  his  set  month  having 


38  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

expired,  he  found  liimself,  from  various  interfering  causes, 
constrained  to  make  the  following  record  : 

"  July  23. — I  ought  to  note,  on  this  day,  that  the  plan 
which  I  marked  out  for  my  observance  on  the  20  th  of  last 
month,  has  not  been  strictly,  nor  even  tolerably  observed. 
Shame,  shame  I" 

His  reflections,  four  days  later,  appertain  to  the  point  in 
hand. 

"  July  27. — Buffon  once  observed  to  one  of  his  friends, 
that  *  genius  is  only  a  greater  aptitude  to  patience  ;  but 
observe,'  added  he,  *  that  'patience  must  be  applied  to  every 
thing  :  patience  in  finding  out  one's  line  ;  patience  in  resist- 
ing the  motives  that  divert,  and  patience  in  bearing  what 
would  discourage  a  common  man.'  This  is  a  very  striking 
observation.  It  is  one  of  those  sayings  which  may  be  the 
future  making  of  a  great  man.  Indeed,  Buffon  himself  was 
a  strong  witness  in  favor  of  the  remark,  that  he  who  pas- 
sionately desires  glory,  is  sure  in  the  end  to  obtain  it.  This 
desire,  however,  must  not  be  a  momentary  one.  It  must 
be  an  every-day  passion. 

"Glory  and  fame  are  tilings  beyond  my  expectations, 
perhaps  my  wishes.  I  do  not  permit  myself,  for  a  moment, 
to  indulge  in  such  fantastically  delusive  hopes.  I  trust  I 
have  a  better  knowledge  of  the  extent  of  my  capacities,  than 
thus  to  deceive  myself  I  cannot,  then,  entirely  accord  with 
the  sentiment  of  the  great  Buffon.  Perhaps  it  may  be  prej- 
udice that  induces  me  still  to  feel  a  reluctance  in  surrender- 
ing the  old  opinion,  that  there  is  a  natural  diversity  in  the 
understandings  and  genius  of  men.  I  am  convinced,  how- 
ever, that  this  notion  has  been  carried  too  far.  Daily  in- 
stances present  themselves,  in  all  professions,  of  the  won- 
derful efficacy  of  this  *  aptitude  to  patience.'  Would  to  God 
I  possessed,  or  could  acquire  it.  I  might  then  be  occasion- 
ally cheered  by  the  modest  hope  of  attaining  a  share  of  that 
reputation  in  my  profession,  which  I  sometimes  fear  will  only 
be  the  reward  of  an  application,  an  industry,  and  a  patience, 


HIS  LEaAL  PRACTICE.  39 

which  I  feel,  very  sensibly,  do  not  constitute  my  character 
Whatever  may  be  the  result,  I  find  myself  obliged  to  go 
on.  Perchance  good-luck,  which  has  favored  some  of  my 
forerunners,  may  light  also  on  me.     "Who  knows  ?" 

These  passages  were  written,  it  will  be  remembered, 
when  Mr.  Milnor  was  no  more  than  twenty-five  years  old. 
He  was  still  a  very  young  la^vyer.  At  that  early  period,  he 
seems  to  intimate  that  he  had  not,  as  an  ingredient  in  his 
nature,  BufTon's  "aptitude  to  patience."  However  this  may 
have  been,  he  was,  ere  long,  able  to  acquire  somewhat  very 
like  it,  and  thus  to  prove  that  if  he  were  not  horn  to  the 
philosopher's  idea  of  genius,  he  could  yet  rise  by  efibrt  to 
what  perhaps  served  his  purpose  quite  as  well.  But,  whether 
patient,  persevering  industry  were  with  him  an  element  of 
nature,  or  a  result  of  efibrt,  the  foregoing  extracts  make  one 
thing  manifest :  that,  as  yet,  what  was  really  elementary 
in  his  character  was  far  from  including  any  thing  of  relig- 
ions,  principle,  motive,  or  feelmg.  If  he  were  already  an 
honest,  faithful,  devoted,  and  rising  lavi^er,  he  had  not  yet, 
even  in  apparent  tendency,  any  thing  of  the  true  Christian. 

In  his  practice  as  a  lawyer,  cases  of  great  interest  often 
presented  themselves,  calling  for  his  offices  both  as  a  lawyer 
and  as  a  friend.  He  has  placed  several  on  record,  even  at 
this  early  period  of  his  life  ;  one  of  which,  as  it  illustrates 
the  remark  now  made,  while  at  the  same  time  it  gives  us  a 
good  insight  into  his  character,  and  a  look  back  upon  the 
political  and  moral  aspect  of  the  times,  may  be  here  advan- 
tageously inserted. 

"  Saturday,  July  14,  1798. — An  incident  yesterday  af- 
ternoon much  affected  me.  W.  D. — a  person  for  whom  I 
some  time  since  commenced  an  action  against  Mr.  B.  for 
arrearage  of  wages  due  the  former  as  editor  of  a  newspaper, 
of  which  the  latter  is  proprietor — called  upon  me.  ITever 
did  I  behold  a  picture  of  more  perfect  wretchedness.  With 
a  countenance  expressive  of  the  most  agonizing  sensations, 
and  with  a  voice  faltering  from  emotion,  he  informed  me  that 


40  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

his  wife  was  then  lying  dead,  having  departed  about  an  hour 
and  a  half  before  ;  that  he  was  destitute  of  the  means  of 
providing  a  coffin,  or  any  other  of  the  requisites  for  inter- 
ment ;  and  that  his  only  resource  was  to  sacrifice  a  part  of 
the  debt  due  him  from  Mr.  B.,  in  order  to  obtain  an  imme- 
diate payment  of  the  remainder.  I  advanced  him  as  much 
as  his  present  most  pressing  necessities  required,  and  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  make  arrangements  wdth  Mr.  B.  The  lat- 
ter is  what  may  be  termed,  in  an  old  phrase,  '  a  hard  man^ 
To  be  sure,  D.  has  behaved  towards  him  in  an  indecorous 
manner ;  but  it  is  not  a  recent  transaction,  and  there  would 
have  been  a  generosity  in  forgiving  him. 

"  My  eloquence  yesterday,  to  which  I  vainly  thought 
my  feelings  had  given  an  unusual  glow,  was  well-nigh  lost 
upon  B.  To-day,  however,  he  has  sent  me  an  oflcr  of  twenty 
dollars  in  cash,  a  note  at  sixty  days  for  fifty  dollars,  and  an- 
other at  forty-five  days  for  thirty-three  dollars  ;  making  one 
hundred  and  three,  w^hich  he  alleges  to  be  Mr.  D.'s  right. 
D.  claimed  one  hundred  and  tliirty-eight ;  but  all  consider- 
ations are  lost,  in  circumstances  like  his,  except  that  of  pres- 
ent succor.  He  is  obliged  to  accept  the  ofier.  And  how 
does  it  relieve  him  ?  He  has  twenty  dollars  in  cash.  The 
great  humanity  of  church  establishments  calls  for  only  six- 
teen of  this,  as  compensation  for  a  piece  of  ground  six  feet 
by  two.  Will  the  remaining  four  pay  for  the  poor  creature's 
coffin  ?  No.  How  heart-rending,  then,  the  situation  of  this 
husband  I  I  can  supply  him  with  twenty  dollars  ;  and  op- 
portunely he  steps  in  to  receive  it.  I  wish  to  do  more  ;  but 
am  at  present  without  the  means,  consistently  with  the 
punctuality  which  I  iimist  observe  in  the  discharge  of  a  little 
engagement  of  my  own. 

"  The  poverty  of  this  man  suggests  very  strongly  the 
dismal  efiects  of  a  misapplication  of  talents.  In  possession 
of  abilities  much  above  mediocrity,  and  with  acquirements 
of  an  extraordinary  kind,  this  man  might,  one  would  sup- 
pose, be  an  ornament  to  literature  and  a  useful  member  of 


HIS  LEGAL  PRACTICE.  41 

society.  But,  unfortunately,  he  has  been  deeply  infected 
with  the  mania  of  the  day.  His  principles  are  of  the  most 
Jacobinical  sort.  Blindly  attached  to  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, even  now  that  its  object  is  so  obviously  changed,  he 
can  see  nothing  that  merits  censure  in  the  conduct  of  it. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  still  with  him  the  cause  of  liberty  and 
republicanism ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  he  believes  our 
own  government  to  be  on  the  high  road,  and  advancing 
with  rapid  strides,  towards  monarchy.  Tliis  man,  had  he 
but  possessed  moderation  and  temper,  and  given  a  proper 
direction  to  his  talents,  would  have  made  a  truly  meritorious 
character.  For,  however  I  disapprove  of  the  violence  of  his 
politics,  I  am  not  so  far  in  the  opposite  extreme  as  to  impute 
to  him  the  worst  intentions.  I  see  too  much  of  this  spirit 
of  intolerance  not  to  deprecate  it  heartily.  I  feel  dreadful 
anticipations  as  to  its  effects  in  this  country.  The  concil- 
iatory spirit,  a  disposition  for  mutual  indulgence  and  for- 
bearance, once  gone,  whither  may  not  the  storms  of  party 
drive  us  ?  It  is  the  part  of  a  rational  man  to  convince  by 
argument,  not  convert  by  force.  But,  from  what  we  daily 
see,  can  we  accuse  the  poet  of  injustice  when  he  says, 

"  'Amid  the  wood  the  leopard  knows  his  kind ; 
The  tiger  preys  not  on  the  tiger  brood. 
Man  only  is  the  common  foe  of  man.'  " 

The  details  thus  given  will  enable  the  reader  to  form  a 
sufficiently  clear  idea  of  Mr.  Milnor,  as  a  lawyer.  His  whole 
course  of  practice,  a  period  of  about  nineteen  years,  was 
such,  in  its  character  and  results,  as  might  be  expected  from 
a  man  peculiarly  mild  and  gentle  in  his  ordinary  disposi- 
tions, strong  and  ardent  in  attachments,  affable  and  cour- 
teous in  manners,  and  possessed,  to  an  uncommon  degree,  of 
a  sound  judgment  and  a  wise  prudence,  which  rendered 
him,  at  all  times,  and  in  all  situations,  an  invaluable  friend, 
a  safe  counsellor,  and  a  useful  man.  With  too  much  genuine 
modesty  to  overestimate  his  actual  abilities,  there  was,  in 
his  mind,  so  much  of  those  rare  endowments — more  directly 


42  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

valuable,  perhaps,  than  the  gifts  of  genius — practical  com- 
mon-sense, great  industry,  and  a  sprightly  activity  of  facul- 
ties, that  he  was  able,  in  addition  to  what  he  effected  in 
connection  with  the  various  political,  benevolent,  and  literary 
associations  of  the  day,  to  accomplish  an  unusual  amount  of 
results  in  his  strictly  professional  engagements.  He  was, 
besides,  a  man  of  undoubted  and  undaunted  moral  and  physi 
cal  courage ;  a  courage,  however,  trained  into  strict  subor- 
dination to  the  good-breeding  of  a  gentleman.  He  was  never 
double-faced,  either  in  public  or  in  private ;  never  offended 
any  by  an  abrupt  or  obtrusive  expression  of  his  opinion  ;  and 
yet  never  shrunk,  when  occasion  required  it,  from  a  sincere, 
frank,  and  fearless  utterance  of  his  views.  All  these  traits 
of  character  were  remarked,  and  are  well  remembered  by  the 
few  surviving  friends  of  his  early  life,  and  wiU  be  readily 
recognized  by  those  familiar  with  him  in  later  periods. 

The  habits  of  business  which  he  acquired  in  his  legal 
practice  were  of  great  permanent  value,  as  they  rendered 
him  useful  in  the  management  of  pecuniary  trusts,  as  well 
as  safe  in  that  of  his  own  affairs.  When  he  first  began 
practice,  he  was  more  successful  in  tnaking  than  in  saving 
money ;  and  this  led  him  early  to  study  this  latter  branch 
of  economy.  His  good  judgment  soon  made  him  as  judicious 
in  the  investment  as  he  was  skilful  in  the  accumulation  of 
funds.  From  the  beginning  of  1795,  the  year  when  his 
practice  commenced,  to  the  close  of  1799,  that  in  which  his 
marriage  took  place,  his  yearly  receipts  increased  from  about 
$530  to  nearly  $3,000.  They  sustained  a  corresponding 
increase  so  long  as  he  continued  his  practice;  and  as  his 
expenses  were  uniformly  moderate,  and  for  eight  years  after 
his  marriage  his  family  sustained  no  increase,  he  must  have 
realized  a  rate  of  prosperity  quite  sufficient  to  satisfy  the 
reasonable  desires  of  any  reasonable  man.  In  short,  he 
closed  this  part  of  his  career  an  accomplished,  respected, 
and  moderately  wealthy  lawyer. 

But  we  shall  not  understand  the  first  half  of  Mr.  Mil- 


HlC  LEG-AL  PRACTICE-;-  43 

nor's  life  unless  we  are  made  aware  that,  notwithstanding 
the  peculiarities  which  marked  him  as  a  prudent  and  pros- 
perous man  of  business,  rising  constantly  and  rapidly  towards 
wealth,  he  was  yet,  from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  his 
legal  practice,  a  fashionable  man  of  the  ivorld.  Tasteful 
and  liberal  in  his  provisions  for  his  family,  generously  hos- 
pitable in  his  entertainment  of  friends,  and  careful  to  main- 
tain his  standing  in  the  ranks  of  fashionable  society,  he  was 
in  truth  cordially  fond  of  all  but  its  foolish  and  ruinous 
extravagances.  This  appears  luminously  in  his  occasional 
letters  to  his  wife ;  who,  it  seems,  though  bred  an  Episco- 
palian, was  yet,  as  to  the  gayeties  of  the  world,  more  of  a 
Quakeress  than  he  desired.  Constitutionally  of  a  quiet,  re- 
tiring, and  gentle  spirit,  she  would  gladly  have  persevered 
in  the  simple  plainness  of  her  earlier  life  in  the  country. 
But  he  had  marked  out  for  himself  a  diiferent  course ;  and 
hence,  in  his  letters,  occasionally  exhorts  her  to  more  of 
sympathy  in  his  tastes  and  to  more  of  conformity  with  his 
views.  In  a  word,  "  He  was  a  man  of  the  world  ;  fond  of 
its  amusements,  and,  to  a  great  extent,  governed  by  its 
maxims ;  and  he  considered  a  mmgling  with  fashionable 
society,  provided  it  did  not  conflict  with  his  moral  and  pro- 
fessional duties,  as  itself  a  duty  and  a  means  of  advance- 
ment." He  was  a  man  of  too  much  honesty  and  principle 
to  be  either  dissipated  or  extravagant ;  was  always  strictly 
moral  in  his  conduct,  and  safe  in  his  expenditures ;  but 
within  these  limits,  he  was  fitted  to  enjoy  and  permitted  to 
have  whatever  the  gay  world  could  furnish  for  his  gratifi- 
cation. He  was  fond  of  the  theatre,  and  a  frequent  attend- 
ant at  the  play. 

As  a  man  of  the  world,  he  was  well  fitted  to  rise  and 
shine  by  the  very  combination  which  he  presented,  of  gay, 
lively,  social,  conversational  qualities,  with  sterling  good- 
sense  and  principle.  The  former  made  him  popular ;  the 
latter  kept  him  from  being  ridiculous.  He  was  far  above 
the  absurd  littleness  of  those  who  live  for  the  gay  world ; 


44  MEMOIR  OF  DE.  MILNOR. 

as  a  sensible  gentleman,  he  at  least  tried  to  make  the  gay 
world  live  for  him.  In  other  words,  the  amusements  and 
pleasures  of  the  world  were  of  importance  to  him  only  so 
far  as  he  saw,  or  believed,  that  he  could  make  them  minis- 
ter to  some  useful  end. 


SECTION   II. 

We  come  now  to  view  Mr.  Milnor  as  a  political  alin. 

His  political  opinions  seem  to  have  been  early  formed. 
Coming  to  the  study  and  the  practice  of  the  law  during  the 
administrations  of  Washmgton  and  the  elder  Adams,  he  was 
prepared  by  previous  trainmg  for  a  manful  support  of  the 
American  doctrines  on  which  those  administrations  were 
based.  From  boyhood  he  was  a  Washington-federalist,  and 
his  principles  cleaved  to  him  unchangingly  through  life.  As 
early  as  1798  he  began,  in  his  diary,  to  insert  notices  of 
political  events,  and  of  his  own  views  respecting  them. 
After  a  jaunt  into  the  country,  which,  with  a  few  friends, 
he  had  taken  on  the  15th  of  July  of  that  year,  while  some 
of  the  measures  of  the  elder  Adams  were  agitating  the  na- 
tion, he  inserted  in  his  diary  the  following  note — furnishing, 
indeed,  no  index  to  the  nature  of  his  political  opinions,  but 
illustrating  the  truly  generous  spirit  ui  which  he  mauitained 
them. 

"  July  1G. — In  the  afternoon  of  yesterday,  the  'Squire, 
(Mr.  Summers,)  Mr.  Swift,  Mr.  Jones,  and  myself,  had  a 
dish  of  politics.  We  found  each  other,  notwithstanding  the 
temper  of  the  times  and  the  great  variance  in  sentiment 
between  us,  little  inclined  for  loggerheads.  When  men  hold 
each  other  in  estimation,  what  a  pity  that  a  difibrcnce  of 
opinion  in  politics  should  disunite  them.  There  is  only  one 
case  in  which  I  would  despise  a  man  for  his  opinions,  and 
that  is,  when  he  makes  pretensions  to  them  from  motives 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAHEER.  45 

of  self-interest ;  and  this,  whether  it  "be  in  a  pecuniary  way, 
or  in  any  other  incompatible  with  honor  and  the  real  amor 
patrice" 

Upon  the  death  of  the  model  President,  he  entered  the 
following  simple,  but  touching  note. 

"February  22,  1800.— This  is  the  birthday  of  Wash- 
ington. It  was  once  a  day  of  festivity  and  rejoicing ;  but 
alas,  it  is  now  spent  in  the  most  mournful  dejection.  Every 
face  bears  lines  of  deep  grief  strongly  marked.  Every  voice 
sighs,  '  Washington  is  no  more.'  The  man  *  first  in  war, 
first  in  peace,  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,'  de- 
scended to  the  tomb  of  his  ancestors  on  the  1 5th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1799  ;  and  Congress  have  recommended  that,  on  this 
day,  the  people  of  the  United  States  should  assemble  in 
their  respective  neighborhoods,  and  pay  honor  to  his  memory 
by  silitable  eulogies,  orations,  etc." 

And  then,  after  alluding  to  the  three  orations  which  were 
to  be  pronounced  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  he  adds,  in 
reference  to  that  which  he  attended,  "  The  church  was 
exceedingly  crowded,  but  without  confusion.  A  suitable 
awe  and  solemnity  were  generally  observed,  and  every  party 
consideration  seemed  merged  in  universal  mourning  for  the 
irreparable  loss  which  our  country  has  sustained. 

"  0,  Washington,  when  will  mankind  have  another  friend 
like  thee  ?" 

From  a  note  in  his  diary,  it  appears  that  during  the  year 
1600,  Mr.  Milnor  held,  by  election,  a  place  in  the  city  coun- 
cil, which,  if  municipal  rather  than  political,  was  yet  a  dis- 
cipline for  public  life  on  a  wider  stage.     He  says, 

"March  24,  1800. — This  evening  I  spent  at  Common 
Council.  Not  a  quorum.  How  blamable  it  is  in  men  to 
accept  of  public  trusts,  and  yet  neglect  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  which  those  trusts  involve.  I  find  my  seat  in  tliis 
body  very  inconveiiient  to  me.  So  much  of  my  time  is  en- 
grossed by  the  business  of  the  council — though  I  do  far  less 
than  many  of  my  worthy  fellow-members — that,  unless  I 


46  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

alter  my  mind,  I  shall  certainly  avoid  a  reelection  next  year. 
And  yet  I  think  it  incumbent  on  me,  while  I  retain  the 
place,  to  contribute  my  small  endeavors  towards  the  welfare 
and  good  government  of  the  city." 

From  1800  to  1810,  the  notices  of  Mr.  Milnor's  life  are 
scanty.  During  that  period  there  is  no  diary  extant,  nor 
any  correspondence  preserved  or  recoverable.  The  most 
that  is  known,  relates  to  his  political  career ;  and  even  of 
that  only  naked  facts  remain. 

On  the  8th  of  October,  1805,  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Select  Council  of  Philadelphia,  for  two  years  ;  on  the 
13th  of  October,  1807,  he  was  reelected  for  tliree  years  to 
the  same  body;  and  on  the  14th  of  October,  1808,  he  was 
raised  to  the  'pre?,idency  of  the  council  for  one  year ;  at  the 
close  of  which,  October,  1809,  in  consequence  of  a  change 
in  the  political  majority  of  the  constituency,  he  was  suc- 
ceeded in  that  office  by  a  member  of  the  Democratic  party  ; 
although  it  is  inferable  that  he  continued  a  member  of  the 
council  till  the  close  of  the  three  years  for  which  he  was 
elected,  or  till  October,  1810. 

These  naked  facts  are  all  that  can,  with  certainty,  be 
stated  of  his  public  political  course  until  the  year  1810. 
This  date,  however,  brings  us  to  the  period  at  which  he  be- 
came more  widely  known  to  the  world,  and  after  which 
there  is  less  lack  of  documents  wherewith  to  illustrate  his 
character  and  the  principal  events  of  his  hfe. 

In  October,  1810,  took  place  his  election  to  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives from  the  city  and  county  of  Philadelphia.  On 
this  event  it  will  be  interesting  to  pause  a  moment ;  for 
when  we  remember,  that  although  politics  and  religion 
have  no  affinities,  by  which  the  former  generate  the  latter, 
their  most  frequent  relations  being  those  of  contrast  and 
of  conflict,  yet  it  was  in  Congress  he  became,  in  a  sense  be- 
fore unknown  to  himself,  a  subject  of  divine  teachings  and 
of  heavenly  grace,  the  devout  mmd  will  be  pleased  to  trace 


HIS  POLITICAL   CAREB"5t.  47 

the  hand  of  God  in  the  circumstances  which  attended  his 
election  to  a  seat  in  the  great  council  of  the  nation. 

The  city  and' county  of  Philadelphia  had,  in  1809,  given 
token  of  a  readiness  to  follow  other  parts  of  the  state  and 
nation  in  adopting  the  pohtical  opinions  of  Jefferson  and 
Madison.  And  it  was  very  natural  to  infer,  that,  at  the 
next  general  election,  they  would  succeed  in  sending  a 
representative,  of  the  same  opinions,  to  the  halls  of  the  na- 
tional legislature.  It  was  under  these  circumstances,  that 
in  Octoher,  1810,  a  committee  waited  on  Mr.  Milnor  to 
learn  whether  he  would  permit  his  name  to  be  used,  as  a 
candidate  to  represent — if  elected — his  native  city  in  the 
Congress  of  the  nation.  This  was,  to  his  mind,  a  new  and 
important  question ;  and  he  could  not  at  once  give  his  an- 
swer. As  soon  as  the  committee  had  retired,  he  sent  for  his 
confidential  friend  and  brother  lawyer,  Thomas  Bradford,  Jr., 
desiring  him  to  call  immediately,  on  business  of  great  im- 
portance. His  friend  instantly  obeyed  his  call ;  when,  after 
mentioning  the  visit  and  object  of  the  committee,  he  thus  ad- 
dressed him  :  "  Knowing  as  you  do  all  my  concerns,  private 
and  public,  I  want  you  to  give  me  your  opinion  whether  I 
ought  to  accept  the  proposed  nomination."  "  This  is  a  seri- 
ous question,"  replied  his  friend ;  "  and  I  must  have  time  to 
consider  before  I  can  make  up  an  opinion."  Mr.  Milnor 
gave  him  till  three  o'clock  P.  M.  of  the  same  day.  *'  I  left 
him,"  says  Mr.  Bradford  in  his  "Reminiscences,"  "and  ex- 
amined the  matter  in  all  its  bearings  upon  his  professional 
business,  his  private  comforts,  and  the  situation  of  his  fami- 
ly during  his  absence  ;  and  came  to  the  clear  and  settled 
opinion  that  he  ought  not  to  accept.  At  the  time  appointed, 
I  went  to  make  my  statement  and  to  give  my  opinion ;  when, 
to  my  surprise,  he  informed  me,  that  during  my  absence,  the 
committee  had  called  again,  and  he  had  accepted  the  nomi- 
nation. He  did  not  perceive  it,  but  the  footsteps  of  Provi- 
dence were  already  leading  him  towards  his  conversion.  He 
was  elected,  and  went  to  Washington"  m  the  fall  of  1810, 


48  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

or  early  in  January,  1811.  Says  his  son  in  his  "  Recol- 
lections," "He  consented"  to  become  a  candidate,  "with 
the  expectatio7i,  and  almost  the  hope  of  being  defeated  ;"  so 
strong  was  the  probability  against  his  election,  and  so  "  fear- 
ful was  he  that  his  success  would  prove  a  serious  detriment 
to  his  business.  His  election  was  a  proof  how  much  he  had 
won  upon  the  respect  and  love  of  his  fellow-citizens ;  for  he 
was  the  only  federal  candidate  who  succeeded." 

And  had  he  waited  an  hour  for  his  friend's  advice,  he 
probably  would  never  have  been  even  a  candidate ;  and  thus, 
to  human  view,  all  the  coloring  which  the  work  of  the  Spirit 
gave  to  his  religious  character  during  his  congressional  hfe, 
might  never  have  appeared. 

His  letters  from  Washington  to  Mrs.  Milnor,  show  that 
he  took  his  seat  in  Congress  almost  immediately  after  his 
election  in  1810.  The  first  of  these  letters  which  has  been 
preserved,  is  dated  January  6,  1811,  and  merely  informs 
her  of  his  safe  arrival.  On  the  9th  of  the  same  month  he 
writes  again,  and  says  that  he  had  been  to  dine  at  the 
French  ambassador's,  had  attended  Mrs.  Madison's  levee, 
and  had  received  an  invitation  to  the  British  minister's. 
And  on  the  14th,  he  forwards  a  communication,  from  which 
some  extracts  may  be  given  as  illustrative  of  his  manner  of 
life  at  Washington,  and  as  evidence  that  he  went  thither  to 
do  the  business  of  his  country,  rather  than  to  engage  in  the 
dissipations  of  the  gay  capital. 

To  Mrs.  Eleanor  Milnor. 

"Washington,  January  14,  1811. 
"  My  dear  Ellen — I  was  much  pleased  with  the  receipt 
of  your  very  acceptable  letter  by  Capt.  Kerr,  who  arrived 
here  this  day.  Mr.  William  Bethell  and  William  Newbold 
dined  with  me  yesterday.  The  arrival  of  my  friends  will 
give  me  a  good  deal  of  occupation,  so  long  as  they  remain, 
as  it  will  be  my  duty  and  pleasure  to  attend  them  so  far  as 
my  duties  in  Congress  will  permit.    To-morrow  I  dine  with 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAREITR.  40 

them  at  Mr.  Bowie's,  in  Georgetown,  and  in  the  evening 
accompany  them  to  the  drawing-room. 

"Yesterda)^  I  made  the  longest  and  most  animated 
speech  which  I  have  yet  delivered  ;  it  was  against  a  project 
of  some  of  the  wise  administration  folks  of  sending  the  mili- 
lia  to  take  possession  of  Canada.  But  why  do  I  trouble  you 
on  subjects  in  which  you  feel  so  little  concern  ?  My  friends 
who  do  take  an  interest  in  them,  will  see  my  remarks,  such 
as  they  were,  in  the  newspapers  in  a  few  days. 

"  Public  business  progresses  so  slowly  and  unsatisfacto- 
rily, and  my  family  and  business  at  home  are  so  constantly 
present  to  my  thoughts,  that  I  cannot  boast  of  the  happiness 
of  my  situation. 

"  You  have  in  my  letters  the  whole  extent  of  my  dis- 
sipation, which  I  would  willingly  forego  for  those  more 
pleasing,  because  less  formal  associations  with  my  friends,  of 
which  I  partake  when  at  home.  We  have  had,  however, 
fine  weather — and  here,  even  that's  a  comfort ;  but  visiting 
in  the  daytime  is  so  incompatible  with  attention  to  my  public 
duties  in  Congress,  our  sessions  are  generally  so  protracted, 
and  our  dinners  are  consequently  so  late,  that  there  is  no 
visiting  of  families  till  after  nightfall ;  and  then  the  distan- 
ces are  so  great,  and  the  walking  so  disagreeable,  or  car- 
riages so  difficult  to  be  had,  that  we  hardly  ever  attempt  it. 
I  have  never  yet  been  at  an  evening  -party,  except  Mrs. 
Madison's ;  and  when  I  have  made  calU,  it  has  been  only 
at  some  of  the  lodging-houses  of  the  members  tolerably  near 
our  own. 

"  I  often  think  it  a  little  curious,  that  after  so  much  talk 
about  the  dissipation  of  this  place,  I  should  not  have  seen  a 
card  played  since  I  have  been  here.  It  is  an  amusement 
for  which  I  have  not  the  slightest  desire. 

"  I  forget  whether  I  told  you  that  Saturday  next  is  the 
birthnight  of  the  queen  of  England,  and  there  is  to  be  a 
great  entertainment  at  the  British  minister's,  to  which  I  am 
invited,  where  all  the  fashion  of  the  place  will  be  displayed 

Mem.  Milnor.  3 


50  MEMOIR  OF  DE.  MILIJfOE. 

to  the  best  advantage;  preferable  to  all  which  rareeshow 
would  be  the  salutation  of  my  aflectionate  partner  and  sweet 
little  innocents,  in  the  old  fashion  of  the  times  that  are  past. 
"  Ever  your  faitliful  and  affectionate  husband, 

"JAMES  MILNOR.*' 
One  other  letter,  dated  "Monday,  25th,  1811,"  but 
whether  in  January  or  in  February  it  is  uncertain,  is  all 
that  remains  of  the  correspondence  of  this  his  first  winter 
in  Washington.  In  this,  besides  a  little  pleasantry  about 
family  matters  and  other  things,  he  says, 

♦'  My  anxiety  respecting  my  family  and  business  is  often 
very  oppressive  to  my  feelings,  and  I  do  not  by  any  means 
enjoy  my  accustomed  rest.  The  Vv^ant  of  exercise,  I  thuik, 
makes  me  fleshier ;  and  although  I  uniformly  avoid  taking 
supper,  yet  I  am  always  disturbed  by  an  oppression  and  un- 
easiness at  my  breast,  long  before  the  morning  light.  1  a/> 
custom  myself  to  rise  with  the  sun,  who  gladdens  my  room 
the  moment  he  is  above  the  horizon.  In  other  respects  than 
the  circumstances  alluded  to,  I  have  my  usual  health,  and 
sometimes  my  usual  spirits,  but  often  fall  considerably  be- 
low par." 

Although,  however,  these  are  all  that  remain  of  Mr. 
Milnor's  first  winter's  correspondence  from  Wasliuigton,  yet 
they  show  that  he  was  there  at  the  opening  of  1811  ;  that 
he  consequently  spent  three  Avinters  at  the  seat  af  govern- 
ment ;  that,  even  during  the  first,  he  was  not  an  idle  man 
in  the  business  of  the  nation  ;  and  that,  though  he  entered 
into  the  gayeties  of  the  capital,  it  Avas  yet  with  moderation, 
and  with  an  evident  deadening  of  his  mind  towards  the  at- 
tractions of  the  world  of  pleasure. 

In  the  fall  of  1811,  he  took  his  second  departure  for  the 
seat  of  government,  accompanied  by  a  number  of  liis  poHti- 
cal  friends  as  far  as  the  "  Blue  Bell  Tavern,"  on  the  Chester 
road ;  at  which  place  they  paid  him  the  compliment  of  a 
public  dinner.  He  reached  Washington  the  1st  of  Novem- 
ber, and  took  lodgings  at  the  house  of  Capt.  Coyle,  with 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAREE'il.  51 

Messrs.  Chauncey  Goodrich  and  Samuel  \Y.  Dana,  of  the 
senate,  and  Josiah  duhicy  and  Timothy  Pitkin,  Jr.,  of  the 
house,  as  his  fellow-inmates.  Here,  as  he  states  in  his 
diary,  he  "remained  during  an  eventful  session  of  eight 
months'  continuance,  which  resulted  in  a  most  calamitous 
declaration  of  war  against  Great  Britain." 

For  the  benefit  of  our  memoir,  this  session  was  as  pro- 
lific in  letters  from  liim  as  in  events  to  the  nation.  It  is 
from  these  letters  chiefly,  that  illustrations  of  this  important 
period  of  his  political  life  will  be  drawn.  The  complexion 
of  his  political  views  we  have  already  seen ;  and  it  is  suffi- 
ciently well  known  what  was  our  attitude  towards  Great 
Britain,  and  what  an  incubus  of  anxiety  pressed  on  the  bos- 
om of  our  nation,  while,  for  eight  months,  in  the  halls  of 
Congress,  the  grim  Spirit  of  War  was  slowly,  but  sternly 
and  relentlessly  dragging  forth  his  materiel  of  passion  and 
prejudice  and  fierce  debate,  in  preparation,  once  more,  for 
his  bloody  w^ork  of  death.  On  these  points,  therefore,  we 
need  not  touch,  but  may  proceed,  at  once,  to  look  at  the 
part  which  Mr.  Milnor  took  in  reference  to  them,  and  to 
see  how  his  course  affected  him  in  his  personal,  political, 
and  dom.estic  relations.  For  light  on  these  topics,  we  shall 
draw  from  his  letters.  The  formality  of  address,  at  the  be- 
ginning and  close  of  each  letter,  will  be  omitted,  and  the  ex- 
tracts be  arranged  according  to  their  dates,  giving  them  the 
form  of  occasional  entries  in  a  diary  for  the  eye  of  his  wife. 
Unhappily,  none  of  his  contemporaneous  letters  to  political 
correspondents  have  been  preserved :  had  they  been  recov- 
erable, this  portion  of  his  hfe  would  have  been  much  more 
strikingly  illustrated. 

"Oct.  30,  1811. — Baltimore.  In  the  confusion  of  this 
.immense  estabhshment  of  Gadsby's,  I  assume  my  pen  to 
give  you  the  first  information  of  my  progress.  My  good 
friends,  three  or  four  and  twenty  in  number,  who  accom- 
panied me  to  the  '  Blue  Bell,'  parted  with  me  without  de- 
scending into  the  frolic  which  you  had  anticipated.     It  was 


52  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

indeed  a  '  feast  of  friendship  ;'  but  the  feelings  excited  in 
every  breast  at  this  parting  evidence  of  regard,  were  calcu- 
lated to  prevent  the  slightest  tendency  towards  the  extreme 
of  festal  indulgence.  Capt.  Kerr,  wdth  his  wonted  good- 
ness, oiTered  his  carriage  to  relieve  my  next  day's  ride,  by 
taking  me  on  to  Chester,  and  my  friend  Bradford  could  not 
avoid  adding  to  the  many  evidences  already  given  of  his 
friendship,  by  going  with  us." 

"I^OY.  2,  1811. — Washington.  I  arrived  in  this  place 
yesterday,  in  time  for  dinner.  I  lose  no  time  in  acquainting 
you  that  I  have  procured  lodgings  at  Capt.  Coyle's,  near  the 
capitol.  Mr.  Q,uincy  is,  at  present,  my  only  fellow-inmate ; 
but  Mr.  Dana  and  Mr.  Goodrich  are  expected.  The  mess 
will  not  consist  of  more  than  four  or  five  gentlemen ;  and 
choice  could  not  have  done  more  for  me  than  chance  has 
done  in  the  persons  of  whom  it  is  to  consist." 

"Nov.  3,  1811. — I  had  scarcely  uttered  my  complaint 
of  the  insufficiency  of  my  writing  accoutrements,  when  I 
found  my  table  covered  with  ready-made  pens,  inkstand, 
sand-box,  wafers,  paper,  and  every  other  convenience  of  the 
sort ;  wdth  which,  I  find,  it  is  made  the  duty  of  an  attend- 
ant of  the  House  to  supply  each  member  at  his  lodgings. 
This  evening  we  have  Mr.  Dana  of  Connecticut  added  to 
our  mess  ;  whom,  from  his  well-known  character,  we  con- 
sider a  valuable  acquisition." 

"  Nov.  5,  1811. — We  have  at  length  had  our  first  meet- 
ing, formed  a  quorum,  and  elected  our  speaker  and  other 
ofiicers.  To-day  the  committees  will  be  appointed,  the 
message  of  the  President  received,  and  general  business  pro- 
ceeded in.  Brother  William's  reputation  here  has  helped 
me  w^onderfuUy,"  in  making  calls  of  ceremony  on  a  few  pub- 
lic churacttis  and  some  private  famiUes.  "Greatly  as  I 
knew  him  to  be  esteemed,  I  had  no  idea  that  his  influence 
extended  so  far  as  I  find  it  to  have  done.  Gentlemen  of 
the  first  respectability  for  talents  speak  of  bun  as  a  man  of 
great  strength  of  mind,   and  as  a  pleasing  and  sensible 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAREER.  53 

speaker  in  the  House  :  they  regret  exceedingly  that  he  was 
not  reelected." 

"  Nov.  7,  1811. — Yesterday,  I  wrote  you  a  scolding  let- 
ter ;  and  if  the  one  received  from  William  had  not  relieved 
my  mind  of  its  anxiety  lest  some  untoward  cii'cumstance 
should  have  occurred,  I  should  either  in  dudgeon  have  given 
over  writing,  or  scolded  more  severely  than  ever.  And 
even  now,  were  I  not  confident  that  this  evening's  mail  will 
bring  me  evidence  under  your  own  hand  corroborative  of  his, 
railing  would  be  my  only  employment.  But  I  forbear,  and 
only  hope,  in  a  few  days,  to  find  you  galloping  along  in  your 
writing-gears,  as  if  you  had  all  your  life  been  devoted  to 
the  service.  I  wish  the  little  cherubs,  over  whose  slumbers 
you  are  this  moment  watching  with  a  mother's  kindness 
and  aflection,  were  old  enough  to  scribble  to  their  absent 
father ;  and  I'll  answer  for  it,  the  mail  to  this  great  city  hi 
the  desert  would  come  heavier  freighted." 

"Nov.  11,  1811. — I  hope  you  will  not  seclude  yourself 
from  society.  Remember,  the  character  of  the  family  for 
attention  to  social  intercourse  is  already  almost  below  par. 
It  depends  on  you  to  prevent  it  from  entirely  sinking  during 
my  absence."  In  Congress,  "We  make  slow  progress,  sitting 
not  more  than  tAVo  hours  a  day,  and  even  then  doing  very 
little  business.  For  myself,  I  feel  a  very  languid  degree  of 
interest  in  the  passing  scene,  and  fear  I  shall  never  be  able  to 
excite  in  myself  a  relish  for  public  duties  sufficient  to  secure 
for  their  discharge  the  application  of  what  httle  talent  it 
may  be  my  lot  to  possess." 

"  Nov.  16,  1811 . — A  long  letter,  with  which  I  was  grati- 
fied last  evening,  from  my  friend  T.  Bradford,  informs  me  of 
the  continued  welfare  of  yourself  and  our  family.  When  the 
mail  arrives,  the  letters  for  each  family  of  lodgers  are  made 
into  several  packages.  A  bystander  would  be  amused  to  see 
the  eagerness  with  which  each  of  our  family  looks  for  his 
letters,  and  the  long  faces  of  those  who  happen  to  be  dis- 
appointed.    I  hope  you  will  not  let  your  husband  be  often 


54  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

laughed  at  on  this  account."  [With  all  his  efforts  he  nev- 
er succeeded  in  making  his  wife  a  frequent  letter- writer.] 
"  Yesterday  I  made  my  first  appearance  on  the  floor  of  Con- 
gress, except  that  once  before  I  rose  merely  to  present  a 
petition.  The  few  observations  which  I  made  were  on  an 
interesting  subject ;  and  probably  1  owe  to  that,  rather  than 
to  any  thing  of  my  own,  a  compliment  which  few  speakers 
have  obtained  this  session — a  most  profound  attention  from 
the  House." 

By  his  "first  appearance  on  the  floor  of  Congress,"  he 
means  the  first  this  session,  for  as  we  have  already  seen,  the 
year  before  he  rose  repeatedly  to  the  discussion  of  topics  before 
the  House. 

**  Nov.  18,  1811. — Having  written  to  you  several  times 
since  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  any  communica- 
tion from  you,  I  have  now  only  to  advise  you  of  my  contin- 
ued good  health,  and  the  enjoyment  of  good  spirits  without 
recourse  to  any  of  that  dissipation,  which,  I  have  reason  to 
believe,  was  so  causelessly  apprehended  as  the  inevitable 
concomitant  of  a  residence  in  this  place.  We  find  at  our 
quarters,  at  those  moments  when  business  or  study  requires 
intermission,  ample  gratification  in  each  other's  conversation, 
without  resorting  to  any  of  the  too  customary  expedients  for 
passing  away  time." 

"Nov.  18,  1811. — Evening.  I  fully  intended  to  leave 
this  place  to-morrow  morning  for  my  desired  home  ;  but  the 
question  on  the  apportionment  bill,  which  has  been  taken 
this  afternoon,  and  decided  in  favor  of  the  ratio  wliich  I  advo- 
cate"— he  has  been  speaking  again — "  is  left  in  such  a  situ- 
ation as  to  make  it  doubtful  whether  it  may  not,  in  another 
shape,  be  brought  up  again  to-morrow  morning.  I  shall, 
therefore,  be  reluctantly  obliged  to  wait  till  Friday  morning  ; 
but  I  shall  still,  if  no  accident  occur,  reach  home  at  the 
time  proposed." 

"Nov.  24,  1811. — I  had  the  happiness  to  receive,  by 
the  mail  of  last  evening,  your  kind  and  affectionate  letter  of 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAEEE-a.  55 

the  21st.  The  practice  of  letter- writing  is,  in  my  opinion, 
one  of  the  best  means  of  expanding  the  mind,  and  ehcitiiig 
those  latent  powers,  which  in  m.ost  individuals  only  want 
cultivation  to  exhibit  them  to  advantage.  Facility  in  this 
employment  is,  in  a  good  degree,  the  result  of  habit ;  and 
there  are  few  persons,  to  whom  habit  does  not  render  it  both 
easy  and  agreeable.  The  poets  talk  of  happy  moments  of 
inspiration,  but  this  exercise  is  adapted  to  all  occasions,  and 
a  flow  of  easy  composition  will  never  be  wanting,  if  indolence 
do  not  prevent  the  beginning  of  the  v/ork  ;  provided  the  best 
aflections  of  the  heart  prompt  the  assumption  of  the  willing 
and  obedient  pen.  For  my  own  part,  I  boast  of  no  elegance 
in  this  delightful  employment ;  but  it  is  agreeable  to  me, 
and  my  language,  such  as  it  is,  is  the  spontaneous  flow  of 
natural  feeling,  without  any  labored  eflbrt  after  the  beauties 
of  a  polished  and  ornamented  style.  I  speak  now  of  my  let- 
ters generally  ;  but  with  reference  to  those  more  particularly, 
which  I  write  to  the  proprietor  of  all  my  thoughts,  I  should 
disdain  giving  them  an  artificial  dress,  or  obscuring,  by  the 
tinsel  decorations  of  language,  the  overflowings  of  a  fond  and 
faithful  attachment,  reciprocated,  as  I  know  it  is,  by  as  fond 
and  faithful  a  return.  Insulated  as  I  am  in  a  place  so  little 
like  that  whose  enjoyments  surround  you,  separated  from 
my  best  friends,  deprived  of  all  the  endearments  that  sweet- 
en the  bitter  cup  of  human  existence,  my  chiefest  happiness 
consists  in  pouring  into  your  ear  the  eflusions  of  an  undimin- 
ished love,  and  in  cherishing  the  sweet  evidences,  which  you 
will,  I  hope,  almost  daily  transmit  me,  of  its  being  repaid 
with  a  full  measure  of  that  regard  on  your  part,  which  I 
prize  much  more  highly  '  than  gold,  yea,  than  fine  gold.'  " 
[  An  argument  which  might  have  emboldened  a  more  timid 
pen  than  even  Mrs.  Milnor's.] 

After  having  attended  Mrs.  Madison's  levee,  where  he 
met  a  splendid  crowd  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  he  says,  in  a  letter  dated, 

''Nov.  27,  1811. — ^Wednesday  night.     Looking  at  the 


56  MEMOIR  OF  DE.  MILNOR. 

dreary  aspect  of  this  wilderness  of  a  city,  I  could  not  have 
anticipated  a  collection  of  so  much  elegance  and  fashion ; 
and  I  must  say,  that  Madam  performed  the  graces  of  her 
drawing-room  with  great  dignity,  affability,  and  ease.  At 
several  times  during  the  course  of  the  evening,  I  had  a  few 
minutes'  conversation  with  her.  She  had  heard  of  my 
(Quaker  extraction,  and  observed  that  neither  of  us  were 
very  faithful  representatives  of  that  respectable  society." 

"  Friday  Evening,  Nov.  29,  181 1. — I  have  dined  to-day 
with  the  President.  The  party  consisted  of  about  live  and 
twenty.  Mr.  Munroe  and  his  lady,  Mr.  Hamilton,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy,  and  other  grandees  were  among  the 
number." 

"Dec.  16,  1811. — We  are  making  slow  progress  with 
the  resolutions  relating  to  preparations  for  the  war  with 
Great  Britain.  I  begin  to  fear  that  the  resolutions  will  not 
be  disposed  of  before  the  time  fixed  for  my  return  home. 
My  friends  make  great  objections  to  my  leaving  before  they 
are  disposed  of;  but  I  shall  make  every  effort  to  get  away. 
This  suggestion  is  merely  in  order,  if  I  should  be  delayed  a 
day  or  two  longer  than  I  expect,  that  you  should  not  attrib- 
ute it  to  indisposition,  or  any  other  cause  than  the  unavoid- 
able detention  of  public  business." 

He  visited  Philadelphia  during  the  Christmas  hohdays ; 
and,  in  his  first  letter  after  his  return  to  Washington,  dated 
"January  8,  1812,"  after  describing  a  cold,  perilous,  mland 
winter  journey,  via  Lancaster,  and  across  the  Susquehannah 
on  the  ice,  in  a  black  night,  against  furious  winds,  and 
obliged  to  walk,  with  gentlemen  and  lady  passengers,  by 
the  aid  of  guides  and  lanterns,  a  mile  and  a  quarter  from 
shore  to  shore,  amidst  broken  fragments  of  ice,  and  many 
involuntary  prostrations,  he  adds, 

"  I  arrived  here  before  the  House  had  adjourned,  and  in 
time  to  vote  on  the  army  bill.  My  friends  received  me  with 
the  most  affectionate  welcome,  and  I  am  now  reinstated  in 
my  old  lodgings.     If  well  enough,  I  shall  attend  my  friends 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAREER.  57 

Dana,  Pitkin,  and  duincy,  to-day,  to  a  dinner  given  "by  the 
French  amhassador,  M.  Serrurier." 

"Jan.  13,  1812. — I  am  quite  recovered  from  the  cold 
and  fever" — caused  by  his  wintry  journey — "  and  was  able, 
to-day,  to  make  a  speech  of  some  length  on  the  volunteer 
bill." 

The  gay  season  at  Washington  had  now  set  in  ;  and  we 
accordingly  find,  in  his  letter  of  "  Jan.  19,  1812,"  the  follow- 
ing reference  to  what  was  expected  at  the  British  minister's. 

"All  the  fashionables,  I  am  told,  are  on  the  tiptoe  of 
expectation  for  Mr.  Foster's  ball  and  supper  to-morrow  night. 
Two  hundred  people  are  expected  there  ;  but  so  far  from 
anticipating  it  with  pleasure,  I  wish  it  were  over ;  for, 
although  etiquette  obliges  me  to  go,  yet,  as  I  know  very 
few  of  the  company,  as  I  cannot  dance  and  ivill  not  game,  I 
do  not  look  forward  to  the  gala  with  any  pleasure." 

"Jan.  23,  1812. — We  are  here,  listening  day  after  day 
to  debates,  which,  from  their  prolixity,  have  become  tire- 
some, on  the  subject  of  making  an  addition  to  the  navy  ;  in 
which,  besides  the  mortification  of  being  sentenced  to  the 
punishment  of  listening  so  long  to  so  many  dull  speeches,  we 
shall  have  that  of  being  completely  defeated  in  our  views." 

"Jan.  25,  1812. — The  long  pendency  of  the  question 
respecting  an  increase  of  the  navy,  makes  our  day's  work 
drag  heavily  ;  but  I  presume  it  is  now  near  a  determination. 
I  fully  intended  to  have  made  a  speech  upon  this  subject,  as 
it  is  one  in  which  the  commercial  interests  of  our  city  are  so 
deeply  involved ;  but  our  party  concluded  it  was  best  to 
leave  the  debate  in  the  hands  of  the  miajority  until  near  the 
close,  as  there  are  several  able  advocates  of  the  navy  among 
themselves  ;  and  it  was  thought  our  interference  would  only 
be  calculated  to  inflame  the  minds  of  the  more  violent  of 
their  party  against  the  bill  as  a  federal  measure.  Two  of 
our  members  submitted  a  few  observations  yesterday  and  the 
day  before ;  and  to-day,  Mr.  Q,uincy  made  the  best  speech 
which  has  been  delivered  on  either  side  of  the  question.     I 

3^ 


58  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

have  not  positively  concluded  on  my  own  course  on  Monday, 
when  the  debate  is  to  be  renewed.  Every  possible  argu- 
ment has  been  so  forcibly  urged,  and  so  fully  illustrated, 
that  I  can  hardly  tliink  of  taking  the  floor  only  to  travel  over 
the  same  ground  which  others  have  travelled  before  me.  I 
am  mortified  at  not  having  had  an  earlier  opportunity  of 
coming  forward  on  a  question  of  so  much  importance  ;  but 
in  deference  to  gentlemen  of  older  standing  in  the  house,  I 
Avas  induced  to  acquiesce  in  the  silence  agreed  upon  in  the 
first  part  of  the  discussion,  as  well  as  to  give  precedence  to 
the  gentlemen  of  our  party  who  have  already  spoken.  And 
now,  the  subject  is  so  worn  out,  that  even  the  masterly  dis- 
play of  it  by  Mr.  Gluincy,  in  a  form  of  as  much  novelty  as 
the  nature  of  the  case  would  admit,  could  scarcely  secure  the 
attention  of  the  House.  If  brother  Wilham,  or  my  friend 
T.  B.,  or  any  other,  should  inquire  whether  I  have  spoken 
on  the  navy  question,  and  my  reason  for  not  doing  so,  you 
will  give  that  which  I  have  stated.  An  apprehension  of 
censure  for  holding  back,  as  it  would  seem,  on  a  question  m 
which  the  mercantile  part  of  the  community  feel  a  great 
interest,  gives  me  uneasiness  ;  but  it  arose  from  the  circum- 
stances above  mentioned ;  and  the  business,  I  am  satisfied, 
has  been  better  managed  by  others  than  it  would  have 
been  by  me.  Besides,  I  am  by  no  means  alone  in  my  dis- 
appointment." 

"Jan.  28,  1812." — Speaking  of  the  entertainments 
which  he  had  attended,  he  says,  "  The  pleasure  which  I 
have  at  these  parties  is,  to  meet  and  converse,  in  the  course 
of  the  evening,  with  many  intelligent  persons,  from  whom 
much  information  of  a  general  nature,  as  well  as  in  relation 
to  the  public  business  which  from  time  to  time  occupies  our 
attention,  may  be  derived.  It  serves  also  to  relieve  the 
oppressive  tedium,  arising  from  the  continued  sameness  of 
our  daily  routine  of  engagements,  wholly  destitute  as  these 
are  of  that  exhilarating  variety  and  interest  which  my  pro- 
fessional business  and  other  avocations  at  home  supply." 


HIS  POLITICAL   CAEEE-R.  59 

It  is  true,  that  by  his  presence  he  patronized  the  dancing 
and  the  gaming,  of  which  he  says  he  did  not  partake ;  yet, 
from  the  above  extract,  we  must  give  him  at  least  the  credit 
of  being,  in  the  midst  of  his  gayeties,  a  sensible  worldly 
man, 

"Jan.  30,  1812. — The  account  of  my  political  career, 
and  the  small  part  which  I  take  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation, 
it  would  be  uninteresting  to  detail  to  you.  These  things  I 
reserve  for  those  of  my  own  sex,  who  feel  an  interest  in  the 
passing  events  of  the  world's  politics,  and  are  always  anxious 
to  hear  of  the  scenes  acted  in  the  councils  of  the  country,  at 
this  critical  and  eventful  period.  Indeed,  I  feel  less  interest 
in  them  myself,  than  perhaps  an  actor  should;  much  less 
than  many  mere,  spectators  of  the  comic-tragedy  perform- 
ances which  are  daily  exhibited  at  the  capitol.  It  is  sicken- 
ing to  hear  the  eternal  brawlings  of  clamorous  demagogues 
for  war,  while  a  pitiful  love  of  office,  or  fear  of  displacement, 
prevents  their  putting  forth  courage  enough  to  provide  the 
proper  means  for  so  awful  a  state  of  things.  This  considera- 
tion will,  of  itself,  be  sufficient  to  prevent  war" — his  proph- 
ecy was  not  fulfilled — "  though  it  may  prolong  the  session, 
in  order  to  give  full  time  and  scope  for  the  oratory  of  the 
heroes  who  like  to  talk  about  it." 

But,  if  wives  felt  little  interest  in  mere  political  details, 
he  concluded  they  were  not  indifferent  to  the  manner  in 
which  their  husbands  passed  their  time  ;  and  therefore,  after 
a  few  farther  paragraphs,  he  proceeded  to  give  a  short 
account  of  himself  under  this  head. 

"  The  forepart  of  each  day,  that  is,  from  my  time  of  ris- 
ing till  eleven  or  twelve  o'clock,  I  spend  in  my  chamber, 
chiefly  in  answering  the  numerous  letters  which  I  receive ; 
but  when  that  duty  does  not  require  the  whole  time,  the 
residue  I  devote  to  useful  reading.  My  public  duty  then 
requires  my  attendance  at  the  capitol,  and  there  I  remain  till 
the  hour  of  adjournment,  which  is  frequently  as  late  as  four 
or  half-past  four  o'clock.     If  not  invited  out  to  dine,  the 


60  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

dessert  to  every  day's  dinner  at  home  is  the  letters  and  news- 
papers which  the  mail  brings  to  the  different  gentlemen  of 
our  mess  ;  and  a  great  regale  they  very  often  furnish.  Our 
evenings  at  home  are  generally  in  great  part  spent  in  our 
respective  chambers  ;  though  sometimes  we  step  into  one  of 
the  neighboring  boarding-houses,  or  receive  calls  from  some 
of  our  friends.  The  frequent  visits  of  gentlemen  from  Phila- 
delphia tend  to  give  a  little  variety  to  the  scene." 

"Feb.  1,  1812. — I  went  with  Mr.  Astley  yesterday,  at 
twelve  o'clock,  to  the  President's;  in  fulfilment  of  a  promise 
he  had  made  to  Miss  M.,  to  wait  upon  her  for  letters  to  her 
father  and  friends  in  Philadelphia ;  but  the  day  being  fine, 
she  had  gone  out  visiting  with  Mrs.  Madison.  The  call, 
however,  enabled  me  to  see  the  President  upon  some  con- 
gressional business  about  which  I  was  appointed  to  wait 
'upon  him.  I  have  been  much  neglected  by  my  friends  in  the 
way  of  letter- writing,  since  my  return  to  this  place.  Except 
yours,  I  know  not  that  I  have  received  one  letter  of  mere 
friendship.  The  diminution  of  the  number  of  those  on  con- 
gressional afluirs  I  do  not  so  much  regret  as  I  do  the  increase 
of  those  of  another  description ;  I  mean,  applications  for 
office,  particularly  for  appointments  in  the  new  army.  If  I 
were,  as  I  thank  God  I  am  not,  of  the  ruling  party,  I  coiild 
not  be  more  importuned.  This  is  disagreeable,  because  it 
involves  the  alternative  either  of  disobliging  the  applicants, 
or  of  condescending  to  ask  favors  of  people  against  whose 
doings,  as  the  servants  of  the  public,  I  am  of\;en  compelled 
to  be  opposed. 

"We  make  progress  in  our  war  measures,  having  the 
militia  bill  now  before  us ;  but  the  war-fever  seems  eveiy 
day  to  decline.  Our  valiant  warriors  begin  to  count  the 
cost  ;  and  they  tremble  for  their  places  when  the  people 
begin  to  feel  the  pecuniary  burdens  which  war  will  render 
inevitable." 

As  the  following  illustrates  his  domestic  feelings  as  well 
as  any  other  of  the  numerous  paragraphs  of  a  Hke  character 


HIS  POLITICAL   CAREER.  61 

with  which  his  letters  abound, -it  is  inserted  in  its  place. 
The  husband  and  the  father  were  stronger  in  him  than  the 
politician  was  likely  ever  to  become. 

"Feb.  3,  1812. — Your  last  letter  was  written  ten  days 
ago,  and  Henry  was  then  confined  by  illness  to  the  nursery. 
Since  then  no  one  has  written  me  a  single  line.  My  fore- 
bodings are  awful  beyond  measure.  I  went  to  bed  last  night 
at  an  early  hour,  to  drown  in  the  forgetfulness  of  sleep  my 
gloomy,  harassing  reflections.  But  the  bed  was  no  bed  of 
rest  to  me.  This  morning  I  was  up  with  the  dawn.  I  saw 
the  glorious  sun  rise  in  resplendent  lustre,  and  hailed  his 
welcome  return.  I  wandered  abroad,  and  rambled  for  two 
hours  before  breakfast.  Nothing  but  the  verdure  of  spring 
was  wanting  to  give  this  charming  morning  all  the  exhila- 
rating delights  of  that  charming  season.  My  contemplations 
have  resulted  in  more  serenity  of  mind,  and  a  confidence  in 
the  goodness  of  divine  Providence  inspires  me  with  hope. 
Yet  why  this  unaccountable  silence  ?  God  grant  it  may 
have  arisen  from  your  irremovable  dislike  to  writing,  or  from 
neglect,  or  even  forgetfulness  of  me,  rather  than  from  the 
dreadful  cause  which  I  have  anticipated.  If  trouble  has 
assailed  our  peaceful  mansion,  let  me  become,  I  charge  you, 
an  early  sharer  of  it.  It  is  my  right ;  duty  as  well  as  affec- 
tion entitles  me  to  claim  this  at  your  hands.  No  public 
responsibility  shall  detain  me  here,  if  home  demands  my 
presence.  If  another  visitation  of  Almighty  God  has  fallen 
upon  us,  let  me  come  and  alleviate  your  griefs." 

"  Feb.  7,  1812." — Having  received  a  letter  which  reliev- 
ed his  fears  for  his  son,  he  proceeds  with  his  usual  topics ; 
alluding  among  other  things,  to  a  great  entertainment  which 
was  expected  to  come  off  at  the  British  minister's,  and  add- 
ing, "  The  policy  of  the  minister  is  evident.  His  course  has 
a  tendency  to  allay  a  httle  the  heat  of  party  animosity 
against  his  country,  and  keep  the  folks  in  good-humor.  He 
must  take  care  not  to  overdo  the  business,  and  thereby  excite 
the  jealousy  and  resentment  of  those  in  power." 


62  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

"Feb.  22,  1812. — We  go  upon  the  new  taxes  on  Mon- 
day next,  and  expect  to  see  ivar  in  the  ivigwam.  They  still 
talk  of  a  long  session,  but  some  think  it  will  be  impossible  to 
keep  as  many  members  here  as  will  be  requisite  to  do  the 
public  business,  throughout  all  April.  Several  have  already 
gone  home  sick,  and  others  begin  to  complain — the  northern 
men  of  its  being  too  hot,  and  the  southern  of  its  being  too 
cold.  For  my  own  part,  though  I  groan  a  little,  now  and 
then,  for  want  of  exercise,  yet  I  never  felt  better  than  I 
now  do ;  so,  for  the  present,  I  have  no  excuse  of  that  kind  to 
make." 

"March  1,  1812."' — Speaking  of  his  purpose  "not  to 
mdulge  his  wife  with  another  line  tiU  encouraged  to  it  by 
her,"  he  adds,  "I  believe,  upon  the  whole,  I  have  punished 
myself  more  severely  than  the  flagrant  little  oflender  for 
whom  it  was  intended.  Tliis  is  the  kind  of  folly  which 
many  wise  persons,  in  the  world's  estimation,  run  into, 
when,  in  order  to  gratify  their  passions  to  the  injury  of  others, 
they  inflict  severer  wounds  upon  themselves.  You  and  I 
know  a  memorable  instance  of  this  in  the  only  man  who 
ever,  to  my  knowledge,  cherished  towards  me  a  personal 
enmity.  In  the  indulgence  of  an  unhappy  temper  of  mind 
towards  all  around  him,  the  effects  of  his  ill-nature  are  contin- 
ually recoiling  upon  himself,  and  every  one  sees  that,  in  all 
his  purposes  of  vengeance,  he  is  himself  the  severest  suflerer. 
I  bless  God,  that  with  a  thousand  of  the  frailties  of  human 
nature,  this  is  not  a  '  sin  that  easily  besets'  me.  There  is 
not  a  human  being  in  existence,  upon  whom  I  would  will- 
ingly and  knowingly  inflict  a  moment's  sufl^ermg ;  and  the 
greatest  pleasure  I  have  ever  enjoyed,  has  been  in  healing 
the  strifes  of  others,  and  in  being — in  a  very  mconsiderable 
degree,  to  be  sure,  yet  as  far  as  I  could — instrumental  in 
adding  to  the  sum  of  human  happiness.  You  see,  my  love, 
how  good  sometimes  flows  out  of  evil.  I  began  to  cliide  a 
little — well,  that  you  will  agree  was  wrong;  but  I  have 
ended  with  a  moral  reflection,  and  that,  were  it  not  for  the 


HIS  POLITICAL   CARE&H.  63 

egotism  which  it  involves,  you  will  equally  agree  is  very 
right,  and  altogether  suitable  as  a  matin  employment  of  the 
sacred  day."  [More  suitable  than  what  he  presently  adds.] 
"  During  the  past  week,  the  business  of  the  house  has  excited 
more  than  usual  interest,  by  the  discussion  of  the  new  taxes 
proposed  to  be  raised  for  carrying  on  their  project  of  war 
against  Great  Britain.  In  these  debates,  the  federalists  have, 
by  an  understanding  among  themselves,  from  motives  of 
policy,  taken  no  part.  Our  only  employment  in  this  depart- 
ment of  the  public  business  is,  to  listen  and  vote." 

"April  3,  1812. — I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you 
that  I  arrived  in  Washington  about  two  o'clock  to-day,  quite 
well,  though  under  the  pressure  of  great  bodily  fatigue." 
[He  had  been  on  a  visit  to  Philadelphia.]  "  I  immediately 
went  to  the  House,  where  my  appearance  was  hailed  with 
a  joy  and  affection  from  my  political  friends  much  beyond 
any  merits  of  mine,  or  any  service  which  I  can  render  by 
being  here.  Already,  however,  I  have  been  warmly  at  work, 
though,  owing  to  the  secrecy  enjoined,  I  can  give  no  account 
beyond  what  is  already  known,  either  to  my  political  friends 
or  to  you." 

"  April  17,  1812." — A  disposition  to  grant  a  short  recess 
of  Congress,  as  a  relief  to  the  weary  members,  had  recently 
been  manifested  by  the  majority,  who  held  the  reins  of  pow- 
er ;  but  under  this  date,  he  says,  "  The  majority,  with  whom 
the  proposal  originated,  have  changed  their  minds,  and  now 
evince  a  determination  to  continue  the  session  until  the 
question  of  war  with  England  shall  have  been  decided.  This 
is  greatly  to  be  lamented,  because  it  will  equally  violate  my 
sense  of  duty,  and  the  expectation  of  my  friends  in  Philadel- 
phia, to  be  absent  at  so  interesting  a  crisis.  Indeed,  that  is 
absolutely  out  of  the  question." 

Almost  immediately  after  the  last  date,  a  severe  fit  of  the 
gout,  of  which  he  writes  many  amusing  accounts  to  his  wife, 
detained  him  from  the  House,  except  that  he  once  hobbled 
down  by  the  aid  of  a  friend  and  a  staff,  in  order  to  give  his 


64  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

vote,  in  vain,  in  favor  of  the  proposed  temporary  adjourn- 
ment of  Congress.  At  length,  however,  on  the  1st  of  May, 
he  wrote  from  his  seat  in  the  House,  that  he  had  so  far  recov- 
ered as  to  be  able  to  attend  again  to  business,  by  Avearing  a 
very  easy  slipper.  But  his  health  had  suflered  so  much, 
that  after  a  few  days'  hard  service,  in  which,  as  we  shall  see, 
he  made  one  eventful  speecli,  he  obtained  leave  of  absence, 
and  remained  at  home  till  near  the  20th  of  May.  Hence 
he  writes, 

"May  21,  1812. — I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you  of 
my  safe  arrival  at  tliis  place,  yesterday  afternoon.  Congress 
have  had  no  session  for  two  days,  owing  to  the  Speaker,  Mr. 
Clay,  having  received  an  injury  by  a  fall  from  his  horse  ;  but 
I  am  told  he  is  sufficiently  recovered  to  attend  in  his  jjlace 
to-day." 

"May  26,  181 5. — You  used  often  to  wish  for  the  arrival 
of  the  Hornet,  because  that  event  promised  to  put  an  end  to 
this  tedious  session.  Well,  the  Hornet  has  at  length  ar- 
rived, and  disappointed  the  hopes  of  Napoleon's  friends. 
They  had  fondly  expected  from  the  universal  robber  a  degree 
of  justice  and  even  of  affection  towards  this  country,  which 
a  knowledge  of  his  character  ought  to  have  told  them  was 
impossible.  What  eflbct  this  will  have  upon  the  continuance 
of  our  session  is  uncertain.  The  ruling  party  are  quite  chop- 
fallen,  and  as  yet  undetermined  upon  the  course  which  they 
are  to  take  :  whether  to  continue  their  project  of  war  against 
England  only,  or  to  wage  it  against  both  England  and 
France ;  or  to  stop  short,  and  let  the  session  end  as  it  began. 
This  state  of  incertitude  may  continue  for  some  time  ;  and  if 
either  of  the  first  two  plans  which  I  have  mentioned  should 
be  adopted,  more  time,  I  presume,  will  be  frittered  away  in 
making  further  preparations  of  a  warlike  nature." 

"June  6,  1812. — Whatever  claims  my  greater  age  and 
longer  close  attention  to  business,  and  acquisitions  of  prop- 
erty, may  have  given  me  upon  the  suflrage  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  and  however  these  things  may  have  justified  me  in 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAREBR.  65 

yielding  to  their  request  to  leave  my  own  concerns  and  attend 
to  theirs,  I  shall  never  be  unwilling  to  acknowledge  the 
indiscretion  of  my  decision,  and  its  prejudicial  consequences. 
It  is  true,  I  neither  contemplated  the  event  of  my  election 
as  probable,  nor  anticipated,  in  case  of  so  unexpected  an 
occurrence,  such  a  wearying  session  as  this  has  been.  Had 
the  latter  circumstance  been  expected,  I  would,  even  after 
the  commencement  of  the  session,  have  made  arrangements 
for  having  my  family  here  ;  in  which  case  the  loss  of  per- 
sonal comfort  would  not  have  been  added  to  the  ruinous  loss 
of  business,  which  I  now  fear  will  be  the  effect  of  my  con- 
tinued absence  from  it." 

As  to  the  close  of  the  session,  "  The  war  people,  in  whose 
hands  our  fate  is  held,  talk  of  the  beginning  of  July,  of  the 
middle  of  that  month,  or  of  the  first  of  August,  as  the  whim 
of  the  moment,  their  own  information,  or  their  want  of  infor- 
mation suggests.  My  fears,  I  confess,  make  me  look  at  the 
most  remote  of  the  above  periods  as  that  most  likely  to  dis- 
perse us.  Congress  is  now  fuller  than  it  has  been  at  any 
time  during  the  session,  our  House  wanting  but  nine  of  its 
full  complement :  and  of  these  nine,  one  has  died  and  another 
resigned;  so  that  only  seven  actual  members  are  absent. 

*'  The  important  discussions,  in  which  we  have  been 
engaged  during  this  week  within  closed  doors,  lead  to  results 
that  will  greatly  prolong  the  session.  New  duties,  direct 
taxes,  and  all  the  machinery  necessary  for  carrying  on  the 
war,  which  these  mad  people  are  determined  to  wage  against 
Great  Britain,  must  necessarily  consume  much  time  in  their 
consideration.  Whether  we  shall  be  shut  up  from  public 
view  when  these  measures  come  under  discussion,  I  know 
not.  If  we  are,  though  our  minds  may  be  vexed,  yet  our 
bodies  will  be  comforted ;  for  our  hall  is  abundantly  cooler 
when  strangers  are  excluded,  than  when  we  sit  with  crowd- 
ed galleries.  1  can't  say  that  our  gentlemen-commoners  are 
influenced  by  this  consideration  to  close  the  doors  against 
their  fellow-citizens,  yet  I  believe  their  whole  detail  of  rea- 


66  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

sons  for  this  anti-republican  proceeding  does  not  furnish  a 
better." 

"  June  17,  1812. — The  mteresting  question,  to  which  all 
the  proceedings  of  this  long  session  have  tended,  still  remains 
undecided  in  the  Senate" — the  House,  it  seems,  had  settled 
it — "  though  it  may  probably  receive  its  final  decision  in 
that  body  to-day.  Whether  war  be,  or  be  not  the  result,  I 
trust  the  necessity  of  our  remaining  together  cannot  last 
much  longer." 

"  June  20,  1812. — ^Were  it  not  that  several  matters  are 
still  depending  in  which  my  constituents  are  much  inter- 
ested, I  would,  for  myself,  break  loose  the  latter  end  of  this 
week.  On  one  of  these  measures,  the  question  of  double 
duties  on  imported  goods,  I  spoke  yesterday  ;  and  if  another, 
the  relaxation  of  the  non-importation  law,  were  disposed  of, 
I  should  feel  myself  at  liberty  to  go.  A  few  days  more  will 
give  me  a  clearer  prospect,  both  as  to  the  probable  duration 
of  the  session,  and  as  to  my  OAvn  duty,  in  either  remaining 
till  the  end,  or  breaking  loose  a  little  sooner." 

Two  days  after  the  last  date,  he  asked,  and  obtamed  leave 
of  absence  for  the  remainder  of  the  session,  and  yet  the  priv- 
ilege thus  granted  remained  unused.  The  following  extract 
explains  the  reasons. 

"  June  26,  1812. — It  is  a  great  disappointment  not  to  be 
able  to  leave  Washington  to-day,  as  I  had  promised  myself 
I  should  do.  Two  reasons  have  detained  me.  In  the  first 
place,  we" — a  committee  of  which  he  was  one — '*  are  about 
publishing  a  pamplilet,  containing  the  reasons  of  the  federal- 
ists in  Congress  for  voting  against  the  war ;  and  I  wish  to 
be  here  when  it  is  ready  for  circulation,  in  order  to  use  my 
franking  privilege  in  sending  copies" — he  had  subscribed  for 
one  hundred — "  to  gentlemen  in  various  places.  In  the 
second  place,  it  is  expected  that  within  a  few  days  some 
interesting  questions  may  arise,  in  which  a  single  vote  will 
be  of  consequence ;  and  I  should  be  much  censured  by  my 
friends,  as  well  as  by  my  own  feelings,  were  I,  without 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAREERV  67 

the  most  pressing  necessity,  to  leave  my  post  at  such  a 
time." 

The  pamphlet  mentioned  in  this  extract,  is  an  able  docu- 
ment of  twenty-four  closely  printed  octavo  pages,  entitled, 
"  An  Address  of  Members  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  their  Constituents, 
on  the  subject  of  the  War  w'ith  Great  Britain ;"  entering  at 
length  into  the  argument  on  the  war  question,  and  signed 
by  thirty-four  federal  members  of  the  House,  of  whom  Mr. 
Milnor  was  one.  As  a  public  document,  further  reference 
to  it  in  this  place  may  be  considered  needless. 

At  length,  the  early  part  of  July,  the  great  session  closed, 
and  Mr.  Milnor  was  again  at  home  and  at  his  business ; 
while  the  war,  which  with  others  he  had  vainly  striven  to 
avert,  was  preparing  to  blaze  over  the  breadth  and  length 
of  our  land.  The  extracts  thus  far  made,  give  but  an  im- 
perfect idea  of  his  activity  in  Congress  during  the  ripening 
of  our  hostile  preparations.  The  letters  to  his  political  friends, 
in  which  that  activity  was  more  fully  detailed,  have  been 
lost.  We  can  therefore  only  say,  in  general,  that,  through 
the  session,  he  was  truly  a  tvorking-membeT,  in  committees 
and  on  the  floor  of  the  House  ;  and  a  man  of  influence,  so 
far  as  influence  from  his  side  was  practicable,  both  within 
and  without  the  halls  of  Congress. 

But  one  thing  remains  to  be  noticed,  before  we  pass  to  a 
brief  review  of  his  last  session,  which  was  also  the  close  of 
his  political  career.  To  that  one  thing  we  have  already 
alluded,  when  speaking  of  a  certain  " eventful  speech^'  which 
he  delivered  on  the  last  day  of  April,  while  as  yet  but  im- 
perfectly recovered  from  his  severe  fit  of  the  gout.  To  the 
circumstance  which  made  that  speech  eventful,  the  follow- 
ing extract  from  one  of  his  letters  refers. 

"  June  20,  1812. — I  am  very  much  pained  to  hear  that 
a  report,  calculated  to  increase  the  anxiety  unavoidably  at- 
tending our  unhappy  separation,  should  have  reached  you. 
Whether  there  were  any  truth  in  it  or  not,  I  am  vexed  be- 


68  MEMOIE  OF  DU.  MILNOR. 

yond  measure  at  the  want  of  common-sense  as  well  as  of 
common  feeling  manifested  by  the  person  who  so  injudiciously 
and  unfeelingly  communicated  that  report  to  you.  It  is  a 
matter  which  need  not  give  you  a  moment's  uneasiness. 
The  report  arose  out  of  some  dissatisfaction  manifested  by  a 
certain  gentleman  at  the  publication  of  a  certain  debate,  in 
which  I  took  a  prominent  part ;  but  nothing  has  occurred, 
and  nothing  will  occur,  which  need  excite  any  fears  for  the 
safety  either  of  my  person  or  of  my  reputation — both  of 
which,  I  am  sure,  are  precious  in  the  estimation  of  my 
affectionate  partner." 

This  extract  will  be  rendered  intelligible  to  the  reader 
by  stating,  that  the  report  which  had  reached  Mrs.  Milnor, 
was  to  the  effect  that  her  husband  had  been  on  the  eve  of  a 
duel  with  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  Henry  Clay.  The  cir- 
cumstances which  had  led  to  a  challenge  from  this  gentle- 
man were  briefly  these. 

On  the  30th  of  April,  the  Hon.  William  Eeed,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, "  presented  a  petition,  signed  by  upwards  of  470 
merchants  of  Boston,  setting  forth  that  they  had  an  immense 
amount  of  property  in  the  dominions  of  Great  Britam,  the 
safety  of  which  was  jeoparded  by  the  state  of  the  relations 
between  the  two  countries ;  and  praying  permission  to  draw 
their  said  property  from  Great  Britain  and  her  dependencies, 
under  such  provisions  as  shall  be  reasonable  and  just." 

The  reading  of  this  petition  was  ordered,  but  had  not 
proceeded  far,  when  it  was  earnestly  objected  to  by  one  of 
the  majority,  on  the  ground  that  the  petition  was  an  insult 
to  the  House,  inasmuch  as  it  declared  that  the  famous  Ber- 
lin and  Milan  decrees  were  still  in  operation ;  whereas  the 
executive  had  declared  them  repealed.  The  Speaker,  how- 
ever, decided  that  the  reading  must  proceed.  After  it  was 
ended,  Mr.  Reed  moved  that  the  petition  be  referred  to  a 
select  committee,  while  Mr.  Rhea  moved  that  it  be  post- 
poned till  after  the  4th  of  the  ensuing  July.  Upon  these 
motions  arose  the  debate  in  which  Mr.  Milnor  took  such  "a 


HIS   POLITICAL  CAHEEK.  69 

prominent  part."  Some  days  after  the  debate  liad  been 
terminated  by  a  reference  of  the  petition  to  the  committee 
of  the  whole,  a  sketch  of  the  day's  proceedings,  containing  a 
report  of  Mr.  Mihior's  speech,  was  sent  to  the  Philadelphia 
"Political  and  Commercial  Register  hy  a  friend  in  Wash- 
ington.'' It  was  at  this  report  that  Mr.  Clay  took  offence, 
and  for  it  that  he  called  Mr.  Milnor  to  account.  Or,  more 
correctly,  the  alleged  ground  of  his  challenge  was,  Mr.  Mil- 
nor's  refusal  to  answer  his  question  touching  the  authorship 
of  the  report. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  give  Mr.  Milnor's  speech  at 
length.  It  was  a  fearless  and  manly  effort ;  and  during  its 
dehvery,  he  was  repeatedly  interrupted  for  saymg  things 
unpalatable  to  the  ruling  majority.  His  soul  seemed  fired 
at  the  evident  disposition  of  that  majority  to  embarrass  the 
freedom  of  debate ;  particularly  at  the  passionate  warmth 
of  manner  with  which  the  Speaker  twice  called  him  to  order 
for  saying,  and  repeating  the  assertion,  that  Mr.  Rhea's  mo- 
tion to  postpone  the  consideration  of  the  petition  to  so  late  a 
day  as  after  the  4tli  of  July  was,  ''in  effect,  to  trifle  with 
the  sufferings  of  the  petitioners."  After  the  Speaker's  second 
interruption,  the  report  represents  Mr.  Milnor  as  thus  con- 
tinuing his  speech. 

"  I  have  scrupulously  avoided  arraigning  the  motives  of 
the  proposer  of  this  resolution,  or  of  any  other  member.  I 
have  spoken  of  the  effect  of  the  course  proposed.  I  know, 
however,  sir,  your  powers,  and  those  of  the  majority,  too 
well  not  to  feel  the  necessity  of  acquiescing  in  this  interpo- 
sition of  your  authority ;  and  therefore,  although  perfectly 
satisfied  that  I  have  made  no  observation  inconsistent  with 
a  just  freedom  of  debate,  the  rules  of  decorum,  or  parlia- 
mentary usage,  I  bow  in  submission  to  the  mandate  of  the 
chair.  I  hope,  however,  I  may  be  permitted  to  repeat,  as 
an  impressive  reason  for  looking  into  the  subject  of  this  peti- 
tion now,  and  an  argument  against  its  postponement,  that 
the  recent  burnings  of  our  vessels  upon  the  ocean  furnish  an 


70  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

evidence  of  tlie  existence  of  the  French  decrees,  which,  hav- 
ing happened  since  the  President's  assertion  of  their  repeal, 
could  not  have  entered  into  his  consideration  of  the  question ; 
and,  of  course,  it  can  involve  no  possible  disrespect  towards 
him  to  examine  it  with  this  additional  evidence."  After 
Bome  further  observations,  Mr.  Milnor  concluded  by  express- 
ing his  "  hope,  that  the  House  would  consent  to  the  reference 
of  the  petition,  as  proposed  by  the  gentleman  from  Massa- 
chusetts." 

When  the  Philadelphia  report  of  his  speech  reached 
Washington,  Mr.  Milnor  was  on  a  visit  to  his  family ;  and 
just  before  his  return  to  Washington,  the  House  was  for  two 
days  prevented  from  sittmg  by  Mr.  Clay's  accident  in  falling 
fi'om  his  horse.  At  the  moment  of  his  return,  however,  Mr. 
Clay  had  sufficiently  recovered  to  be  able  to  resume  the  chair. 
The  two  gentlemen,  therefore,  reappeared  in  the  House  on  the 
same  day.  May  21.  On  that  very  day,  the  Speaker  opened 
the  following  correspondence,  which  will  be  sufficient  for 
a  further  elucidation  of  the  difficulty  between  them.  The 
point  in  the  Philadelphia  report  of  the  speech,  and  its  con- 
nected proceedings,  at  which  Mr.  Clay  took  umbrage,  seems 
to  have  been  the  charge  contained  in  that  report,  of  intem- 
perate warmth  in  the  manner  in  which,  as  Speaker  of  the 
House,  he  repeatedly  interrupted  Mr.  Mihior's  remarks. 

(No.  1.) 

"House  of  Representatives,  21st  May,  1812. 

*'  To  THE  Honorable  Mr.  Milnor  : 

'*  Sir — Your  return  to  the  city  of  Washington  affords  me 
an  opportunity  of  inquiring  of  you,  if  the  sketch  of  the  debate 
on  Mr.  Reed's  motion,  upon  presenting  the  petition  of  the 
Boston  merchants,  which  appears  in  the  Political  and  Com- 
mercial Register  of  the  6th  instant,  was  furnished  by  you  ? 
The  place  and  manner  of  the  appearance,  for  the  first  time, 
of  this  sketch,  will  apologize  for  the  trouble  I  give  you  on 

this  occasion.  Yours, 

"H.CLAY." 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAEEE-R.  71 

Answer. 

(No.  2.) 

"Coyle's,  21st  May,  1812. 
"  To  THE  Honorable  Mr.  Clay  : 

"  Sir — Your  note  of  this  day  was  delivered  to  me  in  my 
place  by  the  Sergeant-at-arms,  during  the  sitting  of  the 
House  of  Representatives.  However  willing,  under  other 
circumstances,  I  might  have  been  to  give  any  information  in 
my  power  on  the  subject  to  which  you  refer,  yet,  as  an  im- 
portant principle,  as  it  respects  both  my  representative  and 
personal  mdependence,  might  be  afiected  by  an  acknowledg- 
ment, on  my  part,  of  the  right  to  make,  and  the  obligation 
to  answer,  an  inquiry  of  such  a  nature,  I  trust  that  my  now 
declining  it  will  not  be  attributed  to  any  intention  of  per- 
sonal disrespect.  Yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOH." 

(No.  3.) 

"Mrs.  Donson's,  21st  May,  1812. 
"  The  Honorable  Mr.  Milnor  : 

"  Sir — Finding  from  your  answer  to  my  note  of  this 
morning,  that  you  have  misconstrued  the  circumstances 
attending  the  place  where  it  was  delivered  to  you,  and  the 
mode  of  conveyance  I  employed,  I  think  it  due  no  less  to 
myself  than  to  you  to  declare,  that  there  existed  no  inten- 
tion to  violate  your  independence  in  any  respect.  As  you 
have  attached  some  degree  of  importance  to  these  circum- 
stances, altogether  accidental,  1  have  to  request  that,  if  they 
constitute  the  only  bar  to  the  information  solicited,  you  will 
consider  this  as  a  renewal  of  my  inquiry. 
"Yours, 

"H.CLAY." 
Answer. 

(No.  4.) 

"Coy];.e's,  22d  May,  1812. 

"  The  Honorable  Mr.  Clay  : 

"  Sir — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  second  note  last  evening  by  the  Honorable  Mr.  Bibb, 
of  the  Senate, 


72  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILITOR. 

"  In  my  answer  to  the  one  previously  received,  the  ex- 
pressions, according  to  my  apprehension,  did  not  impute  to 
you  an  intention  of  violating  my  personal  independence,  nor 
represent  the  place  where  your  note  was  delivered,  and  the 
mode  of  conveyance,  as  constituting  the  only  bar  to  my  fur- 
nishing you  with  the  information  asked  for;  at  the  same 
time  I  appreciate,  as  I  ought,  the  frankness  with  which  you 
have  disavowed  the  intention  alluded  to.  I  am  obliged, 
however,  to  repeat,  that  confirmed  impressions  of  duty,  as 
they  respect  the  preservation  of  the  privileges  both  of  my 
public  and  private  character,  do  not  admit  of  my  conceding 
the  principle,  under  circumstances  like  the  present,  of  your 
right  to  make,  or  of  my  obligation  to  answer,  the  inquiry 
which  I  understand  to  be  renewed  by  your  last  note. 
•'  Yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

{-No.  5.) 

"Mrs.  Donson's,  22d  May,  1812. 
"  The  Honorable  James  Milnor  : 

"  Sir — I  am  gratified  to  learn  by  your  note  of  to-day, 
delivered  to  me  by  Mr.  Goldsborough,  that  you  hare  placed 
a  proper  construction  upon  the  circumstances  attending  the 
delivery  of  my  note  to  you  yesterday  moniing.  I  have,  at 
the  same  time,  to  regret  that  the  sense  entertained  by  you 
of  your  duty  will  not  allow  you  to  communicate  the  infor- 
mation sought  for  by  me.  Your  determination  leaves  to  my 
choice  a  single  mode  of  reparation  for  an  injury  of  wliich  I 
conceive  I  have  cause  to  complain  ;  and  my  friend  Mr.  Bibb 
is  authorized  by  me  to  make  the  requisite  arrangements. 

"  Yours, 

"H.  CLAY." 

Answer. 

(No.  6.) 

"  Capt.  Coyle's,  23d  May,  1812. 
"Honorable  Mr.  Clay  : 

«<  Sir. — Being  utterly  unconscious  of  having  ever  offered 
or  intended  you  any  injury,  and  having  received  from  you 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAEEEU.  73 

no  information  of  any  part  of  my  conduct  against  which  you 
consider  yourself  as  possessing  cause  of  complaint,  the  same 
leading  principle  in  reference  to  public  and  private  duty  that 
has  hitherto  regulated  my  course,  obliges  me  to  deem  it  im- 
proper to  comply  with  the  intimation  of  your  note  of  this 
day.  For  such  a  compliance,  the  most  deliberate  reflection 
that  I  have  been  able  to  give  the  subject  suggests  no  justi- 
fication, on  my  part,  in  any  thing  that  has  occurred  between 
us,  either  before  or  since  the  commencement  of  the  present 
correspondence.  Yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

By  thus  declining  Mr.  Clay's  call  to  the  field,  Mr.  Mil- 
nor  gave  good  proof  both  of  personal  and  of  moral  courage. 
Those  were  times,  emphatically,  when  the  mere  sending  of 
a  challenge  was  deemed  reason  enough  for  its  acceptance. 
Gentlemen  of  honor,  so  called,  would  ordinarily  have  been 
afraid  to  refuse  the  call,  though  given  in  the  spirit  of  angry 
and  reasonless  caprice.  They  would  have  been  likely  to  rea- 
son thus  in  their  heart :  "  My  opponent  calls ;  that  is  enough 
for  me ;  I  must  meet  him."  So  reasoned  not  James  Mil- 
nor,  though  yet  in  his  unconverted  state.  He  saw  a  prin- 
ciple, which  his  decision  was  either  to  support  or  to  sacrifice, 
for  others  as  well  as  for  himself;  and  even  if  we  may  sup- 
pose that,  as  a  man  of  the  world,  he  had  then  no  conscien- 
tious scruples  against  the  barbarous  and  wicked  practice  of 
duelling,  still,  as  a  man  of  principle,  he  would  not  permit 
the  most  distinguished  opponent  to  demand  and  enforce  from 
him  what  was  not  his  right.  He  had  the  highest  kind  of 
courage — ^that  which  stands  to  the  right,  and  sets  arbitrary 
and  senseless,  yet  all  but  omnipotent  custom  at  defiance. 

Years  after  the  occurrences  which  we  have  now  been 
reviewing,  when  Mr.  Milnor  had  been  long  in  the  church, 
and  Mr.  Clay  had  risen  higher  than  ever  in  the  political 
world,  these  two  gentlemen  met  again  in  Washington  on 
terms  of  mutual  respect  and  amity.     Their  meeting  was  at 

Mem,  Milnor.  4 


74  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

a  dinner,  to  which  Mr.  Clay  had  invited  Dr.  Milnor.  Dur- 
ing the  interview,  their  manner  towards  each  other  was  that 
of  the  utmost  frankness  and  high  bearing.  Not  a  word  was 
said,  not  the  shadow  of  a  look  passed  over  the  countenance 
of  either,  to  indicate  that  the  past  was  rememhered.  The 
manner  of  Mr.  Clay  showed  that  the  highest  respect  for  Dr. 
Milnor  had  buried  that  past  away  from  liis  feehngs ;  while 
that  of  Dr.  Milnor  made  it  perfectly  evident  that  he  knew 
how  to  meet  the  advances  of  Mr.  Clay.  He  was  not  a  man 
to  say,  by  either  liis  actions  or  liis  looks,  "  Sir,  as  a  Chris- 
tian, I  am  bound  to  forgive  what,  as  a  gentleman,  I  do  but 
civilly  forget."  On  the  part  of  both  there  was  a  warm 
openheartedness  which  put  the  past,  in  effect,  where  each 
wished  it  might  have  been  in  fact — out  of  existence. 

We  pass  now  to  a  brief  review  of  the  closing  scenes  of 
Mr.  Milnor' s  political  life.  Early  in  November,  1812,  he 
left  Philadelphia  for  his  tliird  winter  in  Congress,  and  after 
"  a  most  tedious  and  irksome,  passage,"  reached  Washington 
on  the  oth  of  the  month.  He  was  soon  settled  in  his  old 
quarters  at  Coyle's,  and  as  soon  engaged  m  the  business  of 
the  session.  But  a  great  change,  dimly  shadowed  as  yet  to 
his  own  perceptions,  was  already  beginning  to  come  over  his 
mind  ;  and  it  is  here  mentioned,  not  because  this  is  the  time 
to  trace  its  progress,  but  because  a  knowledge  of  the  fact 
will  help  us  to  understand  why  he  took  so  much  less  part  in 
politics  than  during  the  previous  session,  and  why  his  letters 
say  so  little  of  the  part  which  he  did  take.  The  following 
extracts  contain  his  only  notices  of  what  was  passing  m  the 
great  world  of  war  and  politics. 

"  Nov.  10,  1812. — The  weather  has  been  so  bad,  and  the 
walking  so  dreadful,  that  I  have  been  barely  able  to  get  from 
my  lodgings  to  the  capitol  since  my  arrival.  To-day,  how- 
ever, I  took  a  carriage,  and  paid  the  usual  visit  of  compli- 
ment to  the  President,  with  whom  I  had  about  half  an  hour's 
conversation.  He  was  communicative  and  pleasant,  but 
Mrs.  Madison  did  not  make  her  appearance.    Business  makes 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAREEii.  75 

very  quiet  progress.     No  manifestations  of  heat  or  violence 
have  yet  appeared,  and  I  sincerely  hope  they  may  not." 

"Nov.  20,  1812. — I  have  had  much  more  leisure  since 
my  arrival  than  I  had  last  session.  Going  less  abroad,  and 
being  upon  but  one  important  committee,  together  with  an 
unusual  exemption  from  letters  of  either  politics  or  business, 
with  only  two  felloAV-boarders,  of  retired  and  quiet  habits, 
and,  added  to  all  this,  with  but  short  daily  sittings  of  the 
House,  have  altogether  contributed  to  give  me  retirement 
without  weariness,  and  the  luxuries  of  reading  and  reflec- 
tion without  the  bustle  and  anxiety  of  public  or  professional 
concerns." 

"Nov.  21,  1812. — Yesterday,  very  unexpectedly  to  my- 
self, I  felt  constrained  to  take  the  floor  upon  two  interesting 
questions,  arising  out  of  the  needless  and  calamitous  war  in 
which  our  rulers  have  unfortunately  plunged  us.  The  sub- 
ject was,  an  act  for  increasing  the  facility  of  raising  troops 
by  enlistment.  One  of  its  objectionable  provisions  was,  an 
authority  to  enlist  boys  from  eighteen  to  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  without  regard  to  the  claims,  interests,  or  feelings  of 
parents,  guardians,  or  masters ;  thus  authorizing  a  bribe  to 
profligate  young  men  to  violate  every  duty  of  obedience  tow- 
ards those  who  have  charge  of  them,  and  ruining  their  pros- 
pects in  life  by  taking  them  from  the  acquisition  of  a  useful 
calling  into  all  the  profligacy  and  vice  of  a  camp.  The 
other  provision  which  excited  my  feelings,  was  an  exemption 
to  debtors  from  being  arrested  by  their  creditors,  after  en 
listing  as  soldiers,  whatever  be  the  amount  of  their  debts, 
and  whether  contracted  before  or  after  enlistment.  Two 
more  scandalous  violations  of  true  policy,  the  civil  rights  of 
the  citizen,  and  the  principles  of  religion  and  morality,  can- 
not be  conceived.  May  a  merciful  Providence  shield  oui 
counti7  against  participating  in  the  ruin  which  must  await 
such  shameful  means  for  bolstering  up  a  wicked  and  unnec- 
essary war.  Pray  excuse  this  diversion  to  the  rugged  and 
unpleasant  path  of  politics.     I  shall  soon  be  permitted  to 


76  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

leave  their  management  to  others.  But,  while  my  term  of 
public  service  continues,  they  claim  and  must  unavoidably 
receive  a  portion  of  my  attention." 

"Nov.  24,  1812. — You  will  not  think  me  veiy  deeply 
engaged  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation,  when  I  tell  you,  that 
instead  of  preparing  speeches,  and  studying  the  intricacies  of 
political  controversy,  my  hours,  when  not  spent  at  the  capi- 
tol,  or  in  social  converse,  or  in  writing  to  you,  are  chiefly 
passed  near  my  chamber-fire  in  the  perusal  of  books,  such 
as  I  meet  with  here,  and  find  adapted  to  the  feelings  of  my 
mind." 

"  Dec.  3,  1812. — The  discussion  of  the  question  of  releas- 
ing the  merchants  from  the  penalties  incurred  by  them  in 
bringing  in  British  goods,  was  commenced  in  our  House  this 
day,  and  is  likely  to  continue  for  some  time.  I  am  prepared 
to  speak  in  their  favor,  if  it  should  be  deemed  expedient. 

"  I  shall  not  make  my  letter  more  of  an  olla  podrida  by 
adding  any  thing  of  a  serious  cast  to  the  foregoing  details. 
My  allotted  term  of  ceremony  and  of  public  business  must 
be  filled ;  and  then  for  the  moments  of  domestic  comfort, 
the  endearments  of  wife  and  children,  and  a  regular  but  not 
morose  attention  to  duties  of  the  most  pleasing  and  impor- 
tant nature,  because  they  are  fitted  to  gild  with  cheerfuhiess 
the  passage  through  life,  and  to  brighten  the  prospects  of  a 
future  world." 

"Dec.  9,  1812." — Having  been  compelled,  as  a  member 
of  the  naval  committee,  to  attend  a  ball  given  to  Captain 
Hull  and  others,  as  oflicers  of  the  navy,  he  thus  describes  a 
scene  which  took  place  in  the  course  of  the  evening 

"  The  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  his  wife,  and  two  daugh- 
ters were  of  the  company.  About  9  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
it  was  announced  that  the  son  of  the  Secretary,  Mr.  Hamil- 
ton, had  arrived  with  official  dispatches  for  his  father,  an- 
nouncing the  victory  gained  by  Commodore  Decatur,  of  the 
frigate  United  States,  over  the  British  frigate  Macedonian ; 
and  that  he  brought  with  him  the  colors  of  the  captured  ves- 


HIS  POLITICAL  CAREEH.  77 

sel.  A  few  moments  afterwards,  the  ingenuous  youth  was 
ushered  mto  the  ballroom,  and  fell  upon  the  necks  of  his 
overjoyed  mother  and  sisters.  They  had  not  seen  him  for 
more  than  a  twelvemonth,  nor  since  he  had  miraculously 
escaped  from  the  dreadful  conflagration  of  the  theatre  at 
Kichmond,  where  he  happened  to  be  at  the  time  of  that 
calamitous  event,  on  his  way  to  Norfolk  to  take  his  station 
on  board  the  United  States.  He  had  now  returned,  flushed 
with  victory,  and  found  the  city  universally  illuminated  on 
account  of  the  gallant  action  in  wliich  he  had  shared ;  his 
family  engaged  in  doing  honor  to  the  brave  men  who  had 
gone  before  him  in  the  career  of  glory ;  and  himself — happy 
man — bearer  of  the  ensigns  of  another  conquered  foe.  Soon 
after  the  scene  I  have  described,  the  colors  of  the  Macedo- 
nian were  introduced,  borne  by  Captains  Hull,  Stewart,  and 
Morris,  Avith  other  naval  officers,  amid  the  loud  acclamations 
of  the  company.  This  was  a  part  of  the  entertainment  so 
unexpected  and  so  much  in  consonance  with  the  feelings  of 
patriotism,  that  I  confess  it  very  much  diminished  the  senti- 
ment of  disgust  at  all  around  me,  in  which  I  had  been  indulg- 
ing. I  glory  in  the  evidences  we  have  had  of  the  prowess 
of  our  little  navy,  and  am  convinced  that  it  is  the  only  true 
method  of  defending  our  national  rights." 

Though  opposed  to  the  war,  he  was  not  blind  to  the 
ability  with  which  it  was  conducted — at  least,  so  far  as  it 
made  the  broad  ocean  its  field. 

"Dec.  18,  1812. — The  interesting  question  with  respect 
to  the  relief  of  our  merchants  from  the  forfeitures  and  penal- 
ties incurred  under  the  non-importation  act,  which  affects 
individuals  in  our  city  alone  to  the  amount  of  four  and  a 
half  millions  of  dollars,  is  not  yet  decided ;  and  the  division 
in  the  House  is  so  nearly  equal,  that  a  single  vote  may  turn 
the  decision  one  way  or  the  other.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, I  deem  it  a  conscientious  duty  to  submit  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  remaining  here  till  the  question  is  settled,  which 
I  hope  will  be  in  the  course  of  the  ensuing  week." 


78  MEMOIR  OF  BR.  MILNOR. 

The  debates  on  the  merchants'  rehef  bill  detained  him 
till  about  Christmas.  The  moment  he  could  with  safety 
leave,  he  visited  Philadelphia,  and  was  in  his  place  again 
after  the  close  of  the  holidays.  Hence  he  writes,  from  the 
House, 

"Jan.  13,  1813. — I  have  arrived  here,  in  good  health 
and  without  accident,  just  in  time,  as  upon  one  or  two  for- 
mer occasions,  to  give  a  vote  upon  the  army  bill.  Randolph 
is  now  making  a  very  long  speech  ;  and  we  have  before  us 
the  prospect  of  a  night-session,  as  the  majority  are  deter- 
mined to  take  the  final  question  to-day." 

**  Jan.  16,  1813. — ^^liile  I  was  absent,  I  find  the  politi- 
cal asperity  of  parties  has  risen  to  its  highest  pitch.  Mr. 
Q,uincy's  severe  attack  on  the  administration  brought  upon 
him  an  abundance  of  abuse.  I  found  Mrs.  Madison,  to 
whose  drawing-room  entertainments  Mr.  Gluincy — improp- 
erly, I  think — made  some  allusion,  by  no  means  unafiected 
by  the  passing  scene.  She  spoke  freely  and  feelingly  to  me 
on  the  subject,  though  without  anger ;  and  I  confess,  betwee?i 
ourselves^  I  cannot  but  deem  it  a  departure  from  the  prin- 
ciples of  decorum  in  a  member  of  Congress,  to  make  such 
reflections  as  fell  from  Mr.  Q^uincy.  I  hope  he  will  see  the 
propriety  of  omitting  them,  or  of  assuaging  their  severity,  in 
the  publication  of  his  speech  which  he  is  about  to  make ; 
and  which,  barring  this  and  some  other  parts  of  it  unneces- 
sarily severe,  our  friends  all  concur  in  saying  was  an  aston- 
ishing display  of  genius  and  eloquence." 

This  severely  brilliant  assault  on  the  administration  may 
have  been  what  Mr.  Milnor  refers  to,  hi  a  letter  some  days 
before  his  visit  to  Philadelphia,  in  which  he  says,  "  I  write 
in  the  House  with  a  speech  from  Mr.  Cluincy  thundering  in 
my  ear." 

His  political  course  was  now  drawing  to  a  close.  His 
letters  to  Mrs.  Milnor  all  breathe  of  the  diviner  themes 
which  have  filled  his  soul,  and  his  allusions  to  the  business 
of  Congress  disappear  from  their  pages.     On  the  27th  of 


HIS   POLITICAL   CAREEII.  79 

February,  he  names  tlie  day  of  his  mteiided  final  departure 
for  Philadelpliia ;  his  last  being  one  of  the  short  sessions, 
which  terminate  the  4th  of  March.  Unexpectedly,  how- 
ever, a  gentle  visit  from  his  ancestral  friend  tlie  gout,  de- 
tained him  for  several  days  after  the  adjournment ;  and 
*'  while  all  Washington  was  crowding  to  the  capitol  on  the 
4th,  to  witness  Mr.  Madison's  re-mauguration,  he  had  more 
pleasure  in  sitting  down  in  the  solitude  of  his  chamber  to 
relieve  any  anxiety  which  his  wife  might  have  suffered"  by 
his  previous  day's  announcement  of  his  expected  detention. 
He  was  well  enough  to  leave  "Washington  on  the  6th  of 
March,  but  for  safety's  sake  preferred  taking  his  seat  in  the 
coach  on  the  8th.  On  that  day,  the  coach,  when  it  came 
along,  was  too  full  to  receive  him,  and  he  did  not  finally 
leave  till  the  9  th. 

Thus  close  all  the  notices  which  remam  of  Mr.  Milnor's 
political  hfe  during  his  last  session  in  Congress.  He  faith- 
fully did  his  work  for  his  country,  but  said  little  about  it  in 
his  letters.  He  had  other  things  on  his  heart,  and  other 
things  for  his  pen,  even  wliile  busily  occupied  ui  public  duty. 
His  letters  to  Mrs.  Milnor  and  others  were  more  frequent 
than  ever ;  but  they  were  almost  undividedly  filled  with 
concerns  mightier  than  those  of  nations.  They  will  come 
into  view  as  we  proceed  to  trace  that  work  of  the  Spirit 
which  transformed  him  from  a  man  of  the  law  to  a  disciple 
of  the  Grospel,  and  from  a  political  servant  of  his  country  to 
an  eminent  minister  of  Christ. 


80  MEMOIR  OF  DE.  MILNOR. 

PAET  II. 

HISTORY  OF  MR.  MILNOR'S  RELIGIOUS  CHANGE, 


SECTION   I. 

In  proceeding  to  trace  the  formation  of  Mr.  Milnor's 
Christian  character,  we  have  the  advantage  of  a  previous 
knowledge  of  what  he  was  as  a  fully  developed  and  maturely 
ripened  man :  unstained  from  boyhood  with  the  too  frequent 
vices  of  life,  yet  formed  to  the  fashion  and  the  manners,  and 
governed  by  the  spirit  and  the  maxims  of  the  world ;  warm 
and  generous  in  his  friendships,  especially  in  his  domestic 
attachments ;  scrupulously  honest  and  upright  in  his  deal- 
ings ;  industrious  and  methodical  in  his  business ;  active  and 
influential  in  the  benevolent  and  literary  institutions  of  his 
age ;  a  peacemaker,  who  yet,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  would 
never  sacrifice  truth  and  right ;  incorruptibly  pure  and  high- 
minded  in  his  social  and  political  principles  ;  peculiarly  pop- 
ular with  all  the  associations  into  wliich  he  entered,  and  in 
all  the  relations  which  he  sustained  ;  an  able  and  successful 
lawyer,  of  that  order  who  seem  formed  to  sit  with  grace, 
dignity,  and  reputation,  on  the  bench  of  justice;  and  a  leg- 
islator, animated  with  the  truest  patriotism,  and  gifted  with 
no  little  insight  and  sagacity  in  the  philosophy  of  politics. 
In  short,  had  he  been  constitutionally  as  much  in  love  with 
legal  and  political  life  as  he  was  practically  successful  in 
both,  he  might  have  risen — such  was  his  popularity  in  his 
native  state — to  her  highest  posts  of  trust  and  honor.  At 
the  time  when  he  was  about  to  disappear  from  the  scenes  of 
civil  life,  he  was  already  talked  of  as  next  governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 


RELiaiOUS  CHANaEr  81 

But  amid  all  this,  and  even  to  the  close  of  his  second 
session  in  Congress,  he  was  without  any  real  experience,  and 
even  without  any  just  perceptions,  of  the  true  nature  of  the 
religion  of  Christ.  He  was,  indeed,  far  from  thoughtlessness 
about  religion ;  yet  his  thoughts  were  any  thing  but  true  to 
the  interior  power  and  spirituality  of  the  gospel.  Of  this, 
the  intelligent  religious  reader  will  have  already  seen  evi- 
dence ;  and  evidence  more  satisfying  to  such  will  appear  in 
what  we  have  further  to  examine. 

In  school-boy  days,  and  in  legal  studies,  James  Milnor 
had  a  playmate  and  a  friend  in  Aquila  Massey  Bolton.  Mr. 
Bolton  was  evidently,  in  mature  years,  a  man  of  handsome 
talents  ;  gay,  volatile,  and  witty  ;  the  soul  of  social  parties  ; 
but,  withal,  loose,  and  in  secret  not  merely  sceptical,  but 
utterly  infidel  in  his  views  of  religion.  Amid  the  vicissitudes 
of  life,  however,  it  pleased  God  to  make  him,  if  we  may 
judge  from  his  letters,  a  monument  of  awakening  grace,  if 
not  of  recovering  mercy ;  and  in  the  faithful  dealings  which 
he  at  once  opened  with  the  conscience  of  his  friend  James, 
we  have  our  first  glimpse  into  the  earlier  religious  notions 
of  the  latter. 

As  early  as  the  3d  of  March,  1800,  somewhat  more  than 
a  year  after  Mr.  Milnor's  marriage,  Mr.  Bolton  addressed  to 
him  a  letter,  from  which  the  following  are  excerpts.  Ex- 
plaining a  ''something,''  of  which  he  says  his  mind  had, 
"  for  a  considerable  time,  been  full,"  he  proceeds  : 

"  Know,  then,  my  dear  friend — for  I  think  you  nearer  to 
me  than  ever — that,  hke  the  Prodigal  Son,  I  am  seeking  to 
be  restored  to  the  favor  of  my  heavenly  Father,  through  the 
mediation  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  whom  I  have  so  long 
turned  frorri  and  crucified  in  my  heart.  This  confession,  I 
doubt  not,  will  subject  me  to  even  your  mockery,  as  I  know 
it  will  to  that  of  the  world.  The  latter  is  a  matter  of  indif- 
ference ;  and  even  the  former  I  think  I  could  bear,  if  it 
would  not  be  an  evidence  to  your  own  condemnation,  Yovi 
may  well  say, '  Is  Saul  also  among  the  prophets  ?'  for  I  have 

4# 


d 


82  MEMOIR  OF  DH.  MILNOR. 

been  a  cruel  persecutor  of  Christianity" — [by  the  way,  that 
is  not  the  first  time  that  the  Saul  of  the  Old  Testament  has 
been  put  in  the  place  of  Saul  in  the  Neiv] — "  to  a  greater 
degree,  I  believe,  than  any  but  the  Holy  Spirit  has  had 
knowledge  of  Few  of  my  friends,  I  think,  have  known  to 
what  monstrous  lengths  I  had  gone  from  the  faith  which  is 
in  Jesus.  Thanks  be  to  the  Lord,  I  was  arrested  on  the 
high  road  to  destruction,  and  have  been  taught,  as  Saul 
himself  was,  that  it  was  Jesus  whom  I  persecuted." 

"  If  you  knew  how  much  I  have  your  welfare  at  heart, 
and  notwithstanding  our  past  friendship,  you  cannot  know, 
you  would  be  disposed  to  believe  one  who,  to  his  sorrow, 
avows  that  he  was  carried  by  a  speculative  philosophy  far, 
very  far  beyond  Deism.  Indeed,  I  think  I  was  never  more 
fixed  in  any  one  opinion  than  in  a  total  disbelief  of  all 
divine  revelation  ;  and  for  a  long  time  I  valued  myself  upon 
having  overcome  every  kind  of  superstition  and  prejudice, 
wliich  I  thought  had  their  origin  from  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  But,  notwithstanding  I  was  as  firmly  fixed 
in  my  opinion  as  Voltaire  himself  ever  was,  I  can  now  de- 
clare, that  I  have  no  more  doubt  of  the  Scriptures  having 
been  dictated  by  the  Supreme  Being,  than  I  have  of  my 
own  existence. 

*'  Oh  that  I  could  communicate  to  you  a  full  sense  of 
what  I  have  been  taught  in  the  school  of  Christ.  Your  eyes 
would  then  be  opened  indeed.  You  will  remember,  and  I 
have  not  forgotten,  the  time  when  we  used  to  laugh  at  seri- 
ous people  affecting  to  know  sometliing,  which  we.  in  our 
vain  imaginations,  could  not  believe  to  be  of  any  importance. 
You  have  now  an  opportunity  to  renew  the  laugh  at  my 
expense.  But,  for  your  own  sake,  not  mine,  Ifeware ;  de- 
ceive not  yourself :  be  assured  there  is  a  God  to  whom  every 
knee  shall  bow,  and  whom  every  tongue  shall  confess ;  and 
no  man  can  come  unto  the  Father  but  by  that  Son,  whom  I 
fear  you  have  long  ago  disclaimed. 

"  Bearing  in  mind  how  inefiectual  were  remonstrances 


RELiaiOUS  CHANGE';-  83 

upon  my  own  mind  when  in  a  state  of  ai^ostasy — the  reason 
of  which  ineilicacy  I  can  now  discern — I  am  indeed  without 
much  hope  of  being  able  to  arouse  you  to  a  sense  of  your 
condition.  Yet,  when  I  reflect  upon  the  great,  the  important 
cJiaiige  in  my  mind,  and  upon  the  friendsliip  which  has  sub- 
sisted between  us,  I  am  tempted,  and  I  trust  permitted,  at 
least  by  that  Holy  Spirit  under  whose  awful  influence  I  hope 
ever  to  continue,  to  sound  an  alarm,  which  I  fervently  pray 
may  not  be  disregarded. 

"  This  conversion  I  can  only  call  strange,  '  passing 
strange.'  Oh,  could  you  knoiv  the  gratitude  which  I  feel 
towards  that  Redeemer  whom  I  have  so  long  and  so  fla- 
grantly oflended,  for  having  opened  my  eyes  to  see  my  con- 
dition when  upon  the  very  precipice  of  hell,  you  would  feel 
very  little  concerned  about  the  trash  of  this  world.  And 
this  change,  beheve  me,  you  must  experience,  or  you  will  be 
lost  to  all  eternity.  Flatter  not  yourself  that  the  Lord  con- 
forms himself  to  man's  wisdom,  or  that  you  can  save  yourself 
from  perdition  in  any  other  way  than  by  reliance  upon  Christ 
Jesus.  Beheve  me,  I  am  in  my  perfect  senses,  when  I  tell 
you,  that  I  know  these  truths  as  plainly  as  I  know  that  two 
and  two  make  four. 

"  I  thought  I  could  do  no  less  than  write  you  as  I  have 
done,  although  it  may  be  the  means  of  breaking  our  friend- 
ship ;  for  you  must  not  expect  to  find  me,  ui  future,  the 
same  as  you  have  found  me  in  the  past ;  and  I  am  afraid 
that  you  will  not  rehsh  any  thing  from  one  who  wishes  not 
to  violate  the  covenant  he  has  made  with  his  God.  Our 
future  intercourse  depends  upon  yourself  If  you  think  that 
I  am  not  too  gloomy  a  correspondent,  I  will  gladly  retiin 
my  place  in  your  affection.  As  to  mine  for  you,  be  assured 
it  is  increased  most  wonderfully  :  for,  once  I  supposed  our 
friendsliip  would  end  in  death;  now  I  cannot  but  hope  it 
will  be  etertiair 

And  if,  friend  Aquila,  thy  own  faith  was  steadfast  to  the 
end,  thy  }ioj)e  is  already  certainty. 


84  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

On  the  fifth  of  April,  he  wrote  again  to  Mr.  Milnor  as 
follows : 

"Dear.  James — I  feel  fearful  that  I  may  have  said  some- 
thing in  my  last  at  which  you  have  taken  umbrage ;  for 
several  weeks  are  now  elapsed,  and  I  have  not  received  a 
line  from  you.  Indeed,  my  dear  friend,  notwithstanding  the 
resolution  I  have  most  seriously  made,  to  have  less  converse 
with  the  world,  yet  I  cannot  consent  to  give  up  your  friend- 
ship. Perhaps,  hoAvever,  this  is  not  as  I  please ;  and  you 
being  willing  to  give  up  mine,  the  continuance  of  a  mutual 
fellowship  is  not  to  be  expected.  I  am  not  ignorant  how  it  is 
with  the  general  run  of  mankind  ;  and  how,  in  some  instan- 
ces, it  has  been  with  myself  When  I  have  seen  some  one 
of  my  acquaintances  dravrn,  as  if  by  the  hand  of  God,  from 
the  circles  of  mirth,  to  deliver  him  from  temptation,  I  have 
felt  a  kind  of  contemptuous  pity,  that  he  should  wish  to  be 
no  longer  cheerful ;  and,  by  seeking  solitude,  should  fall  into 
a  state  of  melancholy,  not  to  say  suUenness.  If  you  should 
feel  this  kind  of  contempt  for  me,  what  could  I  say  or  do  to 
prove  that  I  know  I  act  rationally,  and  that  you — yes,  you, 
gay  and  wanton  as  you  now  are — ^must  come  to  a  like  state 
of  seriousness  and  solemn  stillness,  in  order  to  commune  with 
your  own  heart,  and  thus  discover  its  deceitfulness ;  or  else — 
the  alternative  is  dreadful,  but  not  more  dreadful  than  true — 
or  else  lose  your  salvation.  This  may  not  appear  to  you,  at 
this  time,  a  necessary  truth ;  but  I  pray  that  a  merciful  God 
will  ere  long  open  your  eyes,  as  he  has  been  graciously 
pleased  to  open  mine.  Be  assured,  that  the  unconcerned 
and  wicked  among  men — and  I  fear  they  are  the  major 
part — walk  in  darkness ;  but,  believe  me,  there  is  a  day  of 
visitation  to  every  sou  and  daughter  of  Adam,  in  which,  if 
they  resist  not  the  monitor  of  truth  in  their  own  bosoms, 
they  may  come  to  know  how  they  are  entangled  in  sin.  I 
know  that  my  zeal  to  convince  you  would  be  in  vain,  use 
what  arguments  I  might,  unless  the  Spirit  of  God  disposed 


HELiaiOUS  CHANaEv  85 

your  heart  to  believe.     If,  however,  you  have  any  regard  for 
me,  as  an  old  friend,  you  will  not  slight  the  advice  I  offer, 
which  I  will  comprise  in  two  words — be  serious. 
"  Believe  me  your  friend, 

"AQUILA  M.BOLTON." 

To  both  these  letters  Mr.  Milnor  thus  refers  in  his  ear- 
lier diary  : 

"April  7,  1800. — How  singularly  astonishing  are  some 
of  the  incidents  of  this  life  I  I  received,  some  time  since,  a 
letter  from  my  old  friend  Aquila  M.  Bolton,  that  really  sur- 
prised and  affected  me  exceedingly.  The  gay,  the  volatile, 
the  facetious  Bolton,  has  become  a  zealous  convert  to  relig- 
ion ;  and  his  letter,  which  is  handsomely  written,  is  an  ap- 
peal to  my  feelings,  and  a  solemn  warning  of  the  danger  of 
my  present  state,  as  he  calls  it,  of  apostasy  and  unbelief. 
He  reprobates,  in  the  strongest  terms,  his  former  opinions, 
discards  all  philosophy  and  reasoning  on  the  subject  of  relig- 
ion, declares  his  present  belief  to  be  produced  by  a  clear  and 
solid  co7iviction,  and  concludes  with  a  warm  and  affectionate 
call  to  embrace  the  truths,  of  which  he  says  he  is  as  clearly 
satisfied  as  that  two  and  two  make  four. 

*'  My  acquaintance  with  Bolton  has  been  of  longer  stand- 
ing than  any  which  I  at  present  know.  It  commenced  when 
we  were  children,  and  grew  into  a  friendship  of  the  warmest 
kind  when  we  both  began  the  study  of  the  law.  Bolton, 
soon  after  his  admission,  became  disgusted  with  the  practice ; 
and  Mr.  Anthony  Butler  offering  him  his  patronage,  he  de- 
termined to  enter  into  commercial  life.  "Whether  his  re- 
verses in  business  have  depressed  and  weakened  my  friend's 
nerves,  and  produced  a  habit  of  melancholy  calculated  to  lay 
him  open  to  the  attacks  of  enthusiasm,  or  whether  his  state 
of  mind  is  the  result  of  sober  inquiry  and  real  conversion,  I 
cannot  pretend  to  determine. 

"  I  have  received  another  letter  from  him  to-day,  much 
in  the  same  stram  with  the  former,  and  it  tends  to  increase 


86  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

my  belief  in  the  sincerity  of  his  professions ;  but  I  have  seen 
so  many  changes  of  this  sort  efiected  by  the  despondency  of 
the  moment,  which  have  been  only  coeval  with  that  condi- 
tion of  the  mind,  and  have  given  way  at  the  dawn  of  better 
prospects,  that  I  cannot  give  full  credence  to  the  solidity  and 
unalterableness  of  his  present  resolutions. 

"  In  the  usual  style  of  young  and  enthusiastic  converts, 
my  friend  speaks  in  terms  of  perfect  carelessness  as  to  the 
reflections  and  contempt  of  the  world.  He  even  fears  he 
shall  be  obliged  to  bear  my  reproaches  ;  for  he  looks  on  me 
as  an  absolute  apostate  from  the  faith,  and  in  a  state  nigh 
unto  destruction.  He  observes  that  he  does  not  expect  suc- 
cess to  attend  his  persuasions,  unless  it  be  the  allotted  mo- 
ment of  visitation  ;  but  he  repeats  the  most  fervent  strains 
of  eulogy  on  his  own,  and  the  most  earnest  declarations  of 
anxiety  for  my  conversion. 

"  Bolton  is  wrong  in  supposing  that  I  would  ridicule  or 
contemn  his  sentiments.  I  believe  religion  to  be  the  grand 
bulwark  of  society ;  and  I  have  long  deemed  it  unjustifiable 
to  insult  its  professors,  even  though  I  may  believe  their  no- 
tions, m  some  particulars,  absurd,  or  themselves  too  enthu- 
siastically devout.  I  confess,  the  religion  which  I  wish  to 
see  prevalent,  is  that  which  is  comprised  in  a  monition  not 
likely  to  be  too  often  repeated,  to  do  to  others  as  we  would 
be  willing  they  should  do  to  us.  I  have  never  been  able  to 
persuade  myself  that  one-half  of  mankind  can,  under  any 
circumstances,  be  sentenced  to  eternal  perdition  ;  especially, 
as  zealots  say,  though  they  have  fulfilled  all  the  requisitions 
of  the  moral  and  social  law.  But  I  respect  even  this  zeal 
in  those  whom  I  think  unnecessarily  devout,  because  I  think 
they  intend  well ;  and  I  believe  that  enthusiasm  itself  has 
been  productive  of  good  effects  among  a  numerous  class, 
whom  it  has  led  from  destructive  habits  of  irregularity  and 
intemperance  to  a  sober,  orderly,  and  quiet  deportment. 

"  Whatever  doubts  and  difficulties  may  envelope  my  con- 
ceptions of  certain  doctrinal  tenets,  and  mysteries  in  religion 


RELiaiOUS  CHANGE."  87 

which  I  cannot  understand,  God  forbid  that  I  should  ever 
attempt  to  shake  the  faith  of  any  man." 

From  the  foregoing  extracts  it  is  easy  to  see  what  were 
Mr.  Milnor's  rehgious  notions  at  the  time  when  the  extracts 
•were  written.  They  were  what,  many  years  later,  when 
rector  of  St.  George's,  he  thus  describes,  in  a  long  letter  to 
one  of  his  female  parishioners.  This  parishioner  had  written 
him  a  minute  account  of  her  sceptical  doubts  and  difficulties 
on  the  subject  of  the  Christian  scheme,  with  an  evidently 
sincere  desire  to  be  relieved  of  her  embarrassments,  and  to 
reach  a  settled  faith ;  and  he  was  about  to  advise  a  particu- 
lar course  of  inquiry  with  a  view  to  her  relief  He  intro- 
duces his  advice  by  saying, 

"Now,  the  recommendation  with  which  I  am  encour- 
aged to  follow  this  suggestion,  is  warranted  by  my  own  ex- 
perience of  its  benefits.  I  acknowledge  to  you,  that  I  was 
once  a  subject  of  like  temptations  with  yourself;  and  that, 
for  a  time,  I  pacified  my  conscience  by  avoiding  an  absolute 
rejection  of  revelation,  and  substituting  an  unintelligent 
acquiescence  in  that  miserable  scheme  of  itniversal  salva- 
tion, which  I  am  happy  to  find  you  have  been  enabled  more 
promptly  to  reject.  So  many  rational,  as  well  as  scriptural 
arguments,  however,  continually  arose  against  those  which 
seemed  to  support  that  specious  plan,  that  I  was  determined 
to  satisfy  myself,  by  abandoning  all  conjectures  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  betaking  myself  exclusively  to  the  plain  declara- 
tions of  Scripture.  But  before  I  took  this  step,  I  began  to 
question  whether  I  was  a  real  believer  in  the  Volume  of 
Inspiration.  It  occurred  to  me  that  I  could  not  so  contin- 
ually find  fault  with  the  providential  arrangements  of  God, 
and  with  the  declarations  of  his  word,  if  I  were  certainly 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  this  sacred  book.  I  therefore  con- 
cluded to  examine  the  evidences  of  its  pretensions.  I  did 
so.  My  rational  understanding  was  convinced.  I  had  no 
more  doubt  of  the  genuineness  and  authenticity  of  the  Scrip- 
tures than  of  my  own  existence  ;  nor  have  I  now.     Still,  I 


88  MEMOIE  OF  DU.  MILNOR. 

was  staggered  at  some  of  its  parts ;  and  as  I  now  dared  not 
reject  them,  I  was  disposed  to  put  my  own  interpretation  on 
tlieir  import.  My  views  erred  principally  in  the  reception 
of  unevangelical  notions  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. These  led  me  to  an  midue  appreciation  of  human 
oflbrt,  and  to  a  mischievous  conceit  of  the  merit  of  works. 
I  was  disposed  neither  to  sink  myself,  nor  to  exalt  the  Sav- 
iour. But,  thanks  be  to  God,  this  state  of  things  was  not 
to  last.  I  became  concerned  for  a  deeper  acquaintance  with 
the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  gospel.  1  read  my  Bible 
more — more  too  in  the  spirit  of  a  learner.  I  ventured  to 
pray.  By  the  light  of  God's  word,  and,  as  I  trust,  by  the 
help  of  his  Spirit,  I  discerned  the  character  of  man.  I  saw 
my  own  character  in  its  proper  colors.  I  perceived,  on  the 
ground  of  an  authority  to  which  my  understanding  unhesi- 
tatingly assented,  that  I  was  a  miner — by  the  sentence  of 
the  law,  a  condemned  sinner — and  had  no  hope  of  mercy 
but  through  a  Saviour.  I  was  convinced  that  such  a  being 
as  I  was,  never  could  be  admitted  to  the  presence  of  a  holy 
God,  but  through  the  atonement  and  mediation  of  the  Re- 
deemer ;  that  a  change,  also,  in  my  heart  and  afibctions  was 
indispensable ;  and  that  God's  Spirit  alone  could  bestow  the 
needed  blessing.  As  1  firmly  believed  my  eternal  salvation 
depended  on  an  experience  of  '  a  death  unto  sin,  and  a  new 
birth  unto  righteousness,'  1  sought  it  in  deep  repentance  and 
in  vigorous  exercises  of  faith  in  Christ,  in  earnest  supplica- 
tion, and  in  the  prayerful  study  of  sacred  writ,  and  when 
emboldened  to  do  so,  in  the  ordinances  of  religion.  I  hope 
I  was  careful  to  take  no  merit  to  myself  for  any  of  these 
exercises,  but  to  give  the  glory  of  my  salvation  wholly  to 
my  God  and  Saviour." 

Thus  ran  his  early  experience.  It  appears,  therefore, 
that  friend  Aquila,  though  he  evidently  underrated  his  "  dear 
James's"  high-mindedness  and  generosity,  by  supposing  him 
capable  of  treating  his  friend's  views  with  ridicule  or  con- 
tempt, was  yet,  after  all,  not  far  in  the  wrong  in  considering 


RELIG-IOUS  CHANaE.""-  •        89 

him  the  suhject  of  a  pretty  thorough  scepticism  in  regard  to 
the  true  system  of  the  gospel,  at  the  time  when  he  addressed 
to  him  those  two  faithful  and  searching  letters.  The  state 
of  Mr.  Milnor's  mind  was  then  evidently  what  he  describes 
in  the  former  part  of  the  extract  above  given  from  the  letter 
to  his  doubting  parishioner.  He  supposed  himself  to  have 
avoided  an  absolute  rejection  of  revelation  by  adopting,  un- 
intelligently,  the  theory  of  a  universal  salvation  ;  and  yet  he 
found,  upon  afterwards  looking  into  his  mind,  that  he  had 
all  along  had  too  little  reason  for  regarding  himself  as  really 
a  believer  in  the  inspiration  of  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

At  what  period  he  began  his  prayerful  study  of  the  Bible 
and  of  the  evidences  of  its  truth  and  divine  inspiration,  as 
described  in  the  latter  part  of  that  extract,  we  have  no  means 
of  ascertaining ;  but  it  was  probably  soon  after  the  receipt 
of  his  friend  Bolton's  letters.  We  know,  however,  very 
well,  when  the  resulting  state  of  a  thorough  rational  convic- 
tion of  the  truth  and  inspiration  of  the  Bible  passed  into  those 
deeper  convictions  of  the  heart  which  he  mentions,  and 
which,  by  revealing  him  to  himself  as  a  condemned  sinner, 
drove  him,  in  vigorous  faith,  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as 
his  only  hope  of  pardon  and  eternal  life.  That  state,  then, 
of  mere  rational  conviction,  attended,  for  a  series  of  years, 
with  an  "  overvaluation  of  human  effort  and  a  mischievous 
conceit  of  the  merit  of  works,"  continued,  with  a  tendency 
perhaps  towards  juster  views,  till  after  the  close  of  his  second 
session  in  Congress.  It  was,  then,  more  especially  during 
his  third  winter  in  Washington,  that  it  unequivocally  passed 
into  those  interior  experiences  in  which  his  true  religious 
life  took  its  beginning.  This  general  course  of  his  mind  on 
the  subject  of  religion  we  shall  see  marked  with  sufficient 
distinctness  when  we  proceed  to  look  further  at  his  diary, 
and  at  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Milnor,  and  to  his  friend  Thomas 
Bradford,  Jr. 

His  diary  broke  off  in  the  year  1800,  and  was  not  resum- 
ed until  1809.     After  that  period,  it  consists  almost  wholly 


90        '  MEMOia  OF  DU.  MILNOR. 

of  a  series  of  reports  or  abstracts  written  from  memory,  of 
the  various  sermons  which  he  heard  chiefly  in  one  of  the 
three  associated  churches  in  Philadelphia,  of  which  Bishop 
White  was  rector.  This  part  of  his  diarj^  however,  is  val- 
uable to  us  in  exploring  an  earlier  period  of  his  life  than  any 
included  in  its  dates,  from  the  circumstance  that,  on  several 
occasions,  he  pauses  from  his  homiletic  reports  and  indulges 
in  serious  retrospects,  which  enable  us  to  see  along  what 
track  his  mind  had  been  moving.  Sometimes,  too,  he  inter- 
sperses his  reports  with  remarks  of  his  own,  which  reveal  to 
us  the  tone  and  spirit  of  his  religious  views  during  the  years 
in  which  those  reports  were  written. 

His  diary  was  again  interrupted  by  his  election  to  Con- 
gress ;  but  was  for  a  short  timie  resumed,  with  more  of  inter- 
spersed journalizmg,  in  the  year  1813,  after  he  had  left 
Washington  and  political  life  together,  and  had  resolved  to 
devote  himself  to  the  work  of  the  Christian  ministry.  Upon 
this  temporary  resumption,  he  thus  laments  the  effects  of  his 
election,  under  date  of  March  25,  1813. 

Early  in  October,  1810,  "I  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
12th  Congress;  and  my  mind  being  soon  very  much  occu- 
pied with  arrangements  preparatory  to  leaving  home,  was 
most  prejudicially  drawn  from  that  attention  to  rehgion 
which  I  had  previously  found  increasing  upon  me  in  a  most 
encouraging  mamier." 

His  weekly  exercise  in  writing  out  sermons,  was  design- 
ed to  assist  him  in  reaping  better  fruits  than  he  had  been 
wont  to  realize  from  his  religious  instructions.  He  was  in 
fact,  even  then,  darkly  feeling  his  way  towards  a  light  in 
which  he  was  yet  to  walk  rejoicingly,  as  one  who  could  see 
his  Leader.  On  Sunday,  the  17th  of  September,  1809,  he 
records  the  following  reflections. 

**  If  I  did  not  know  the  inconstancy  of  my  resolutions, 
and  even  doubt  the  possibility  of  my  adhering  to  so  good  an 
one,  I  would  propose  to  note  occasionally  the  text  and  sub- 
ject of  such  sermons  as  I  may  hear.     It  is  astonishing  how 


RELIOIOUS  CHANaE.    '  91 

evanescent  has  "been  the  impression  made  by  those  to  which 
I  have  heretofore  Ustened.  I  have  supposed  myself  atten- 
tive, have  been  pleased,  instructed,  sometimes  feelingly 
allected ;  but  the  impression  has  passed  away  like  '  the 
morning  cloud  and  the  early  dew,'  and  the  lapse  of  a  fcAV 
days  has  effaced  all  memory  of  the  text  and  the  commen- 
tary. To  what  is  this  owing?  In  a  great  degree  to  the 
want  of  a  retentive  memory,  though  such  a  memory  is  so 
necessary  in  my  professional  pursuits ;  but  conscience  tells 
me  it  arises  principally  from  the  want  of  a  feehng  of  real 
interest  and  concern  in  the  business  of  religion.  The  heart 
must  be  engaged  :  it  will  then  enlist  all  the  powders  of  mem- 
ory on  its  side.  I  listen  to  sermons  as  to  a  speech  at  the 
bar,  or  a  recitation  at  the  theatre.  I  listen  for  amusement, 
and  from  habit.  I  go  to  church  because  I  have  been  used 
to  go  thither  at  statedly  recurring  periods.  I  do  not  reflect 
afterwards  on  what  has  been  said,  nor  ask  myself,  '  Am  I 
wiser,  am  I  better  for  what  I  have  heard  ?' 

"  A  knowledge  of  one's  faults  is  said  to  be  the  first  step 
towards  amendment.  I  wish  it  were  so  with  me ;  but  I  have 
long  known  my  errors  and  inattentions,  yet  they  are  not 
removed  nor  lessened.  I  would  still  hope  for  a  change,  if  I 
dared  rely  on  any  determination  of  my  oivn,  or  dared  to 
ask  for  a  superior  influence  to  effect  it.'' 

This  is  one  of  those  points  already  mentioned,  at  which 
he  pauses  from  his  weekly  work  of  writing  out  abstracts  of 
sermons,  and  throws  his  mind  back  into  thoughtful  retro- 
spect. Accordingly,  he  proceeds  to  some  remarks  on  the 
preaching  to  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  listening,  espec- 
ially on  the  ofTensiveness  to  his  mind  of  certain  doctrinal 
discussions  which  he  could  not  relish,  and  to  which,  in  his 
keen  pursuit  of  wealth  and  pleasure,  and  in  his  self-righteous 
"  conceit  of  the  merit  of  works,"  it  may  fairly  be  assumed  he 
was  not  qualified  to  do  justice.     He  writes, 

"  The  K-ev.  John  Blair  Linn  was  pastor  of  the  first 
Presbyterian  church  in  Philadelphia,  and  incited  by  a  great 


92  MEMOIR  OF  DE.  MILNOE. 

fondness  for  his  style  of  preaching,  which  was  Hberal  and 
unsectarian,  though  at  once  evangehcal  and  moral,  I  took 
part  of  a  pew  in  that  church.  In  a  few  years  death  de- 
prived the  congregation  of  this  valuable  minister,  and  he 
was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  James  P.  Wilson,  a  man  of 
great  learning  and  most  exemplary  piety,  but  so  devoted  to 
the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  Calvinists,  and  the  discussion  of 
intricate  points  of  theology,  and  though  amiable  in  an  emi- 
nent degree  in  private  life,  yet  so  austere  in  the  pulpit,  that 
I  could  not,  with  satisfaction  or  profit,  continue  my  attend- 
ance on  his  administration.  My  aversion  to  many  of  the 
dogmas  of  the  Presbyterians,  and  to  Mr.  AVilson's  style  of 
preaching,  induced  me  to  take  a  pew  in  the  new  church  of 
St.  James,  where  I  now  attend." 

Although  this  was  written  in  1809,  yet  its  retrospect 
goes  back  to  at  least  the  beginning  of  1800,  and  therefore  to 
the  time  when  friend  Aquila's  letters  were  written.  And 
yet  a  passage  in  his  diary,  too  long  for  insertion  here,  clearly 
implies,  that  while  Mr.  Milnor  attended  the  Presbyterian 
church,  he  admitted  the  truth  and  mspiration  of  the  Bible, 
and  even  agreed  with  his  preachers,  Mr.  Linn  and  Mr. 
"Wilson,  if  not  in  all  points  of  speculative  faith,  at  least  m 
what  he  deemed  the  essential  doctrmes  of  revelation.  His 
study  of  the  Bible  and  its  evidences,  therefore,  and  his  ra- 
tional conviction  of  its  divine  origin,  must  have  been  very 
soon  after  the  receipt  of  Mr.  Bolton's  letters.  They  could 
not  have  had  an  earlier  date,  because,  as  we  have  seen,  liis 
contemporaneous  comments  on  those  letters  show  him  to 
have  been  at  that  time,  however  unintelHgently,  yet  practi- 
cally a  believer  in  the  notion  of  an  universal  salvation  ;  while 
his  own  subsequent  letter  to  liis  doubting  parishioner  proves, 
on  his  own  acknowledgment,  that  so  long  as  tliat  notion  con- 
tinued to  occupy  his  mind,  he  was  virtually  without  faith 
in  a  revelation.  It  was,  in  fact,  his  discovery  of  this  that 
impelled  him  to  his  investigations,  and  thus  led  to  that 
mere  rational  faith — that  assent  of  the  reason  to  the  truth 


RELIGIOUS  CHANaE.  93 

of  the  Scriptures,  without  the  heart's  experience  of  their 
power,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken.  The  conversion 
of  his  reason  took  place  very  soon  after  he  received  his  friend 
Bolton's  letters  ;  while  that  of  his  heart  was  deferred  to  a 
long  subsequent  period. 

From  this  comparison  of  dates  and  circumstances,  we 
gather  increasing  evidence,  that  the  letters  of  Mr.  Bolton, 
which  so  "  exceedingly  surprised  and  affected''  the  mind  of 
his  friend,  lay  at  the  very  beginning  of  that  series  of  provi- 
dential means  by  which  he  was  led  away  from  his  earlier 
cold,  practical  unbelief,  first  to  inquiry,  then  to  intellectual 
assent,  and  finally,  after  long  years  of  self-righteous  trustings, 
to  that  "  belief  of  the  heart  which  is  unto  righteousness,  and 
that  confession  of  the  mouth  which  is  unto  salvation."  So 
late  as  the  autumn  of  1809,  he  was  not  only  unstable  as 
water  "  in  any  determinations  of  his  own,"  but  without 
frayer  for  divine  aid.  He  *^  dared  not  to  ask  for  superior 
influence  to  effect  a  cliangey  In  truth,  during  the  whole 
period  from  1802  down  to  1812,  he  was  evidently  striving 
to  confirm  himself  in  those  "  unevangelical  views  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  New  Testament,"  which  "led  him  to  an  undue 
appreciation  of  human  eftbrt,  and  to  a  mischievous  conceit  of 
the  merit  of  works  ;"  and  his  fighting,  meanwhile,  with  the 
dogmas  of  Calvinism,  be  the  truth  or  error  of  that  system 
what  it  may,  was  just  a  convenient  shield  against  deeper 
self-knowledge,  used  to  protect  himself  yet  longer  in  his  over- 
estimate of  mere  outward  morality. 

His  friend  T.  Bradford,  Jr.,  has  a  paragraph  in  his  "  Rem- 
iniscences" which  touches  a  portion  of  the  above  period. 
"  He  was  for  several  years  a  worshipper  in  the  First  Presby- 
terian church  in  Market-street,  under  the  pastoral  care  of 
the  Rev.  James  P.  Wilson,  D.  D.  The  acuteness,  discrimi- 
nation, and  learning  of  the  doctor,  who  had  been  for  many 
years  an  eminent  lawyer  in  the  state  of  Delaware,  and 
whose  sermons  were  peculiarly  marked  by  the  characteristics 
of  a  legal  mind,  were  highly  interesting  to  him,  though  he 


94  MEMOm  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

could  not  then  accord  with  the  strictness  of  their  theology. 
The  subject  of  religion  became  frequently  the  topic  of  con- 
versation in  our  daily  walks,  and  we  often  discoursed  on  the 
Calvinistic  system — he  opposing,  and  I,  accordmg  to  my 
view  of  the  Bible,  maintaining  its  correctness  ;  while  neither 
of  us,  at  the  time,  had  any  spiritual  light  or  knowledge." 

In  the  last  extract  from  Mr.  Milnor's  later  diary  is  stated 
the  fact,  with  the  reason  for  it,  of  his  leaving  the  Presbyte- 
rian, and  beginning  to  attend  the  Episcopal  church.  That 
change,  whatever  we  may  think  of  the  reason  for  it,  may 
have  been  favorable  to  his  religious  hopes,  inasmuch  as  his 
dishke  of  Calvinistic  doctrines  was  no  longer  irritated  and 
kept  open,  hke  a  frequently  fretted  sore  ;  wliile  his  mind, 
freed  from  such  a  source  of  annoyance,  was  the  more  likely 
to  reflect  calmly  and  seriously  upon  those  uncontroverted 
truths  of  the  gospel,  to  v/hicli  he  listened  both  before  and 
after  the  transfer  was  made.  This  inference  seems  support- 
ed by  his  diary,  so  far  as  it  sheds  any  light  on  the  progress 
of  his  religious  views  ;  for  although  he  continued  three  years 
longer  to  cherish  unevangelical  notions  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  New  Testament,  yet  there  is  evidence  that  he  was  all 
that  while  feeling  after  something  to  which  he  knew  he  had 
never  attained.  The  very  fact,  that  he  was  so  earnest  in 
taking  careful  and  often  copious  notes  of  the  sermons  which 
he  heard,  shows  that  he  was  resolved,  so  far  as  his  weak 
resolutions  were  of  any  worth,  to  press  on  from  the  mere 
rational  belief  which  he  had  reached,  to  something  which  he 
might  regard  as  a  corresponding  experience  of  the  heart. 
And  besides  this,  his  notes  of  sermons  are  occasionally  inter- 
spersed with  remarks  of  his  own,  which  indicate  at  least  a 
growmg  tenderness  of  feeling,  and  reflectiveness  of  habit ; 
however  little  they,  as  yet,  show  of  the  true  light  breaking 
on  his  spirit.  Some  of  these  remarks  occur  at  the  opening 
of  1810.     He  began  the  new  year  with  this  sober  record  : 

"January,  1610. — Various  reasons,  which  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  enumerate,  because,  when  combined,  they  furnish  uo 


RELiaiOUS  CHANaE.   '  95 

sufficient  apology  for  the  neglect,  have  occasioned  a  breach  of 
my  resolution  to  note  very  briefly  the  substance  of  the  relig- 
ious discourses  to  which  I  attend ;  not  that  my  attendance 
on  the  devotional  exercises  of  the  Sabbath  has  been  inter- 
rupted, but  that  causes,  sometimes  of  more  weight  than  at 
others,  have  induced  a  yielding  to  my  habitual  mdolence  of 
disposition.  This  I  have  continually  to  lament,  as  '  the  sin 
which  does  most  easily  beset  me.'  It  produces  its  effects  on 
all  my  habits,  as  well  professional  as  others ;  and  although 
I  cannot  deem  myself  at  all  times  and  in  all  respects  its 
victim,  yet  I  am  so  in  a  degree  injurious  to  my  concerns  and 
oppressive  to  my  feelings.  It  is  easier  to  resolve  to  shake  it 
off,  than  to  do  so — to  form  resolutions  of  industry,  than  to 
adhere  to  them. 

"  The  close  of  the  old  year,  and  the  commencement  of 
the  new,  have  given  birth  to  many  sermons  on  the  value  of 
time  and  the  brevity  of  life  ;  the  uncertainty  of  terrestrial 
enjoyments,  and  the  certainty  of  irrespective  death,  and  of  a 
future  accountability  at  the  bar  of  an  almighty  Judge,  for 
our  negligences  and  omissions  of  duty,  as  well  as  for  the 
transgressions  of  this  life ;  and  yet,  hoAV  many,  like  myself, 
listen  to  these  solemn  truths  and  awful  warnings  as  to  '  a 
twice-told  tale  I'  We  hear — we  assent ;  but  where  is  to  be 
seen  the  beneficial  result  ?  Seldom  ui  our  secular  concerns ; 
much  more  seldom  ui  those  of  our  immortal  souls." 

Thus  entered  he  on  the  year  1810 — questioning  solemn- 
ly, yet  coming  to  no  decision.  He  had  not  yet  looked  far 
enough,  if  at  all,  into  the  hidden  cause  of  his  deep  prejudice 
against  the  truth,  and  of  his  long  and  frequent  failures  to 
make  progress  in  a  better  life.  A  sight  into  the  dark  deeps 
of  sin  in  liis  own  heart  was  yet  to  be  vouchsafed  him,  before 
he  could  do  more  than  run  round  a  circle  of  oft-formed  and 
as  oft  broken  purposes — ^before  he  could  start  on  a  really  on- 
ward and  upward  movement  in  the  divine  life  of  the  soul. 

"  Sunday,  Jan.  27,  1810. — In  the  evening  went  to  hear 
Dr.  Pilmore,  at  St.  Paul's  church. 


96  MEMOm  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

"  This  gentleman,  in  his  mode  of  preaching,  departs  from 
the  general  practice  of  Episcopal  clergymen  in  two  respects. 
He  does  not  write  his  sermons,  but  speaks  from  short  notes ; 
and  he  is  much  more  evangelical  in  the  treatment  of  his  sub- 
ject, and  much  more  fervent  in  his  delivery.  This,  as  may 
be  expected,  increases  the  admiration  of  the  more  pious  mem- 
bers of  his  flock,  while  it  diminishes  his  popularity  with 
others.  For  my  part,  as  he  is  a  man  of  undoubted  talents, 
and,  from  his  long  service  in  the  office  of  a  public  minister, 
is  fluent  in  his  style,  and  sufficiently  methodical  and  perspic- 
uous in  the  distribution  of  the  heads  of  his  discourses,  and 
very  ready  in  his  scriptural  quotations  and  allusions,  I  feel 
no  great  repugnance  to  the  circumstance  of  his  sermons 
being,  in  a  considerable  degree,  extempore. 

"  As  to  the  evangelical  character  of  his  discourses,  it  is, 
in  my  opinion,  unobjectionable,  because  he  allies  it  with,  and 
makes  it  auxiliary  to  the  inculcation  of  morals  ;  and  he  sets 
forth  the  atonement  of  our  Saviour,  in  the  general  way  in 
which  it  is  viewed  by  most  Christians,  without  proposing 
the  perplexing,  intricate,  and  dark  theology  which  the  strict- 
er Oalvinists  deduce  from  it.  He  enters  upon  no  critical 
disquisitions  upon  nice  and  disputable  doctrinal  points,  but 
endeavors  to  fix  the  faith  and  the  afi^ections  of  his  hearers 
upon  the  blessed  Redeemer,  as  the  alone  means  of  salvation, 
as  the  great  propitiation  for  sin,  as  the  divine  Inculcator  of 
morality,  as  the  glorious  Intercessor  for  his  people  at  the 
right  hand  of  God,  and  as  the  everlasting  Judge  of  all  the 
earth,  who,  in  the  great  day  of  final  retribution,  will  give  to 
every  man  according  to  his  works." 

This  extract  is  interesting,  not  so  much  from  the  fact 
which  it  records — that  Mr.  Milnor  went  to  hear  Dr.  Pil- 
more — as  from  the  allusion  which  it  contains,  to  the  differ- 
ence between  Dr.  Pilmore's  preaching,  and  that  of  the  Epis- 
copal clergy  generally  in  his  day.  That  holy  man  of  God 
was,  after  the  times  of  Devereux  Jarratt,  among  the  first  of 
those  whom  God  raised  up,  when  the  eflects  of  the  war  of 


\ 


RELiaiOUS   CHAKGE.  97 

our  Revolution  had,  in  the  main,  passed  away,  to  he  his 
instruments  in  quickening  a  church  which  had  been  left  all 
but  spiritually  dead,  not  only  under  the  ruthless  and  iron 
hoof  of  war,  but  also  under  the  chilling  and  deadening  influ- 
ences— worse  than  those  of  war — exerted  by  long  years  of 
most  "  unevangelical"  teachings.  The  obloquy  which  such 
men  as  Jarratt  and  Pilmore  were  compelled  to  endure,  has 
been  fruitful  of  precious  results.  They  have  successors  to 
their  spirit,  and,  God  favoring,  shall  C07itinue  to  have,  till  the 
church  m  which  they  served  becomes,  as  nearly  as  the  lot  of 
man  admits,  all  life,  and  full  of  "  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit." 

But,  not  to  anticipate  too  largely  a  topic  which  may 
again  pass  under  our  notice,  it  is  evident  from  the  above 
extract,  that  Mr.  Milnor  was  not  only  growing  in  orthodoxy 
of  faith,  but  also  examining  for  himself  all  points,  as  they 
came  along,  of  practical  interest ;  and  that,  so  far  as  his 
examinations  were  carried,  he  was  quietly  tending  towards 
more  serious  views,  and  even  losing  his  repugnance  to  evan- 
gelical doctrines — ^provided,  always,  they  stopped  short  of  the 
much-dreaded  Calvinism  of  the  stricter  sort,  against  which 
he  had  so  long  warred.  The  moderate  Calvinism,  if  so  it 
may  be  termed,  of  the  evangelical  preacher  did  not  offend 
him,  because  he  saw  how  it  included  and  produced  the  mo- 
ralities of  life.  The  doctrine  of  atonement  was  not  unac- 
ceptable, because  he  heard  deduced  from  it  no  decree  of  "  un- 
conditional reprobation." 

Soon  after  his  connection  with  the  Episcopal  church,  as 
an  attendant  on  its  worship,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  ves- 
trymen of  the  parish  to  which  he  belonged  ;  and,  for  several 
months  after  the  new-year  of  1810,  continued,  with  increas- 
ing interest,  his  weekly  exercise  of  writing  out  sermons  from 
memory.  In  the  summer  of  that  year,  however,  this  ex(ircise 
was  again  interrupted ;  not  now  from  indolence,  but  from 
other  causes.  Hence,  when  he  resumed  this  exercise,  it  was 
after  leaving  a  blank  page  of  his  diary,  on  which  are  written 
gimply  these  words  : 

Mem.  Milnor.  O 


98  MEMOIE-  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

"Hiatus,  valde,  valde  deflendus" — 
expressive  of  the  deep  regret  which  he  felt  at  the  interrup- 
tion ;  and  followed  by  this  short  note  : 

*'  Sept.  1,  1810. — Frequent  absence  from  the  city  during 
the  summer  months,  has  prevented  a  regular  attendance  on 
public  worship.  I  shall,  on  the  morrow,  resume  the  duty 
with  real  pleasure  ;  for,  after  all,  Sunday  is  to  me  not  only 
a  day  of  rest  from  the  vexatious  cares  of  hfe,  but  a  much 
greater  source  of  real  enjoyment,  when  employed  as  rehgion 
and  conscience  enjoin,  than  when  devoted  to  recreations  of  a 
lighter  kind." 

Once,  had  he  written  as  he  felt,  he  would  have  said,  that 
recreations  of  a  lighter  kind  were  more  pleasing  to  him  than 
a  Sunday  spent  as  religion  and  conscience  enjoin.  Thus 
far,  then,  had  he  been  led.  Habit,  and  perhaps  the  secret 
teachings  of  the  Spirit,  had  made  his  mode  of  spending  the 
Lord's  day  a  source  of  more  real  enjoyment  than  he  could 
find  m  worldly  amusements  on  the  Sabbath. 

"Sunday,  Sept.  16,  1810,  A.  M."— Touclimg  the  same 
subjects,  he  writes  again,  "  The  return  of  this  day  of  devo- 
tion and  rest  is  grateful  to  my  feelings.  The  abstraction,  for 
a  time,  from  the  pursuits  and  cares  of  business  ;  the  leisure 
for  contemplating  the  character  and  perfections  of  the  Most 
High,  and  the  opportunity  for  'humble  endeavors  to  ollbr  ac- 
ceptable worship  in  sanctuaries  dedicated  to  his  service ;  for 
perusing  the  oracles  of  a  divme  and  infallible  revelation  ;  for 
reflection  on  past  errors  and  ofTences,  and  for  using  the 
means  of  future  caution  and  improvement  which  the  season 
furnishes,  as  well  in  silent  meditation  as  in  an  attendance 
on  the  advices  of  those  appointed  to  minister  m  holy  things, 
all  contribute  to  render  this  a  blessed  holiday. 

**  Alas,  how  is  it  abused  by  the  inconsiderate  and  thought- 
less !  How  have  I  abused  it !  Let  me  endeavor,  m  this  re- 
spect, to  '  sin  no  more.'  Let  me,  0  God,  reverence  this  day 
as  I  ought,  but  preserve  me  from  those  errors  of  superstition, 
or  fanaticism,  which  would  exclude  from  its  enjoyments  the 


RELiaiOUS  CHANGE.  99 

delights  of  social  converse  and  innocent  association  with  the 
friendly  circle.  Let  revelry  and  intemperance  he  kept  far 
away  ;  let  no  trifling  occasion  induce  an  omission  of  attend- 
ance at  the  house  of  prayer ;  let  a  season  for  private  read- 
ing and  meditation  he  afforded ;  hut  let  the  heart  remain 
open  for  the  cheering  emotions  of  friendship  and  regard  to 
those  we  love,  and  let  not  a  narrow  and  contracted  disposi- 
tion he  induced  by  a  mistaken  apprehension  of  the  true  du- 
ties of  thy  holy  religion.  Next  to  thee,  we  are  taught  by 
the  lessons  of  a  blessed  Saviour,  to  '  love  our  neighbor  as 
ourselves.'  May  we  rightly  appreciate  this  teaching  as  call- 
ing for  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  our  various  allot- 
ments in  life,  '  visiting  the  widow  and  the  fatherless  in  their 
aflliction,  and  keeping  ourselves  unspotted ' — not  removing — 
'from  the  world.'" 

This  is  the  first  of  Mr.  Milnor's  recorded  prayers  ;  and  it 
is  indeed  the  prayer  of  a  beginner  :  not  so  much  a  supplica- 
tion for  grace  to  keep  the  Sabbath  holy,  as  a  petition  to  be 
preserved  from  keeping  it  too  rigidly.  0  how  was  he  strug- 
gling m  the  dark  !  laboring  for  a  better  life,  yet  laboring  in 
bondage,  with  little  or  nothing  of  the  freedom  of  a  son  ;  the 
Spirit,  it  may  be,  teaching  him,  but  leading  to  success  at 
last,  through  the  suflering  of  failure  at  first. 

Sunday,  Oct.  7,  1810,  gives  us  the  last  of  the  "  annota- 
tions" which  Mr.  Milnor  made  on  the  sermons  preached  at 
St.  James'  before  his  election  to  Congress,  and  the  conse- 
quent unfavorable  change  in  his  habits  of  spending  the  Lord's 
day,  which  have  already  been  noticed.  His  principal  notes 
that  day  were  on  a  sermon  by  Bishop  White,  upon  the  par- 
able of  the  prodigal  son — a  sermon,  wliich  apparently  struck 
him  with  much  force,  and  which  he  wrote  out  at  almost  its 
full  length. 

This  change  is  termed  "  unfavorable ;"  and  such  we  must 
admit  it  to  have  been  ;  for,  although  the  opening  of  his  con- 
gressional life  found  him  still  unevangelical  m  his  views  of 
Christian  doctrine — in  feeling,  if  not  in  theory,  opposed  to 


100  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

salvation  by  gi'ace ;  yet  is  it  past  dispute,  that  on  religious 
subjects,  there  had  been  progress  in  his  mind,  and  that  this 
progress  was  distinctly  away  from  that  loose  frecthinking, 
and  its  accompanying  enmity  against  the  gospel,  which 
characterized  his  early  life.  He  was  educated  in  the  freer 
and  more  liberal  notions  of  the  people  to  whom  from  child- 
hood he  belonged.  With  those  notions  he  passed,  at  the 
time  of  his  marriage,  from  his  fellowship  with  the  Gluakers, 
through  his  supposed  adoption  of  the  tenets  of  Universahsm, 
which  was,  after  all,  but  another  name  with  him  for  real 
scepticism  on  the  subject  of  revelation,  into  an  outward  at- 
tendance on  the  ministry  of  the  Presbyterian  and  Episcopal 
churches.  Soon  after  he  left  the  duakers,  and  probably 
under  the  influence  of  his  friend  Bolton's  faithful  appeals, 
examination  made  him,  in  his  rational  understanding,  a  be- 
liever ;  though  it  left  him  still  amid  the  natural  wilderings 
of  "  an  evil  lieart  of  unbelief."  But  as  years  rolled  by,  and 
as  he  approached  the  openmg  of  his  congressional  career,  it 
is  too  plain  for  concealment,  that,  like  "the  scribe"  whom 
Christ  addressed,  he  was,  though  still  out  of  it,  yet  "  not  far 
from  the  kingdom  of  God,"  Legal  practice  had  already  be- 
come distasteful ;  the  spirit  and  maxims  of  the  world  held  a 
far  less  undisputed  sway  over  his  mind ;  the  general  subject 
of  religion  had  become  uitcresting  to  his  thoughts  ;  he  was, 
as  his  Sabbath  annotations  show,  giving  it  much  reflection ; 
the  cast  of  his  mind  had  grown  theological ;  on  some  points 
he  seemed  "  wiser  than  his  teachers ;"  and  what  is  more, 
though  he  still  continued  to  fight  with  Calvinism,  and  was 
by  no  means  evangelical  in  his  doctrines,  yet  his  prejudices 
against  stricter  views  were  much  softened,  and  he  could  lis- 
ten dispassionately,  and  with  some  satisfaction,  to  one  of  the 
leaders  among  that  little  band  of  despised  ones,  who  had 
already  begun  to  constitute  a  portion  of  our  churcli. 

This  may  probably  be  regarded  as  a  fair  view  of  his 
religious  progress  and  state  of  mind,  up  to  the  period  of 
which  we  are  now  speaking.     His  election  to   Congress 


RELiaiOUS  CHANGE.  101 

checked  that  progress,  though,  it  seems  not  materially  to 
have  aflected  this  state.  As  he  was,  at  his  election  in  Octo- 
ber, 1810,  such  he  appears  to  have  been  at  the  opening  of 
his  third  Congressional  term,  in  October,  1812.  The  most 
distinct  notices,  in  the  interim,  of  his  inner  being,  relate  to 
his  ever-growing  distaste  for  politics  and  for  legal  practice. 
Letters,  yet  to  be  examined,  are  strong  on  this  point,  and 
show,  that  if  he  had  not  become  a  Christian  indeed,  still,  he 
was  not  likely  to  have  remained  either  a  politician  in  his 
pursuits,  or  a  lawyer  in  his  practice. 

Passing,  with  these  remarks,  over  his  first  two  years  in 
Congress,  we  are  ready  for  an  advance  to  his  own  account 
of  the  grand  turning-point,  the  great  crisis  of  his  whole  life. 
We  have  viewed  him  in  every  important  light  in  which  his 
natural  character  needs  to  be  placed.  We  have  traced  him 
from  his  parentage  ;  through  his  education  ;  into  his  profes- 
sional studies  ;  among  his  social,  civil,  literary,  and  benevo- 
lent relations  and  pursuits  ;  and  along  his  legal  and  his 
pohtical  career  :  and,  amid  all  these,  we  have  followed  him 
through  that  darkly  winding  way  which  he  tracked,  from 
the  blank  wastes  of  scepticism,  through  secret  stragglings 
with  the  shadowy  forms  of  Universahsm ;  through  more 
open,  manly,  and  intense  toils  among  the  records  and  the 
evidences  of  the  Bible  as  a  revelation  ;  through  barren  years 
of  cold,  unproductive  belief,  and  of  unsatisfying,  unevangeli- 
cal  theory ;  and  through  fierce  fightings  with  the  Genevan 
giant  and  his  offspring ;  till  finally,  we  find  him — with 
much  of  the  light  of  truth  in  his  head,  and  that  light  ap- 
parently beginning  to  beam  downwards  into  his  heart — 
walking  earnestly,  and  standing,  amid  raised  hopes  and  ex- 
pectations, "  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  though,  as 
yet,  wanting  that  one  thing,  without  which  he  might  have 
stood  at  the  gate  for  ever,  incapable  of  entering  among  the 
wonders  which  lie  within. 

What  this  one  thing  was,  he  soon  learned  by  the  mani- 
fest teachings  of  God  ;  and  the  brief  account  which  he  gives 


102  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

of  it,  is  contained  in  his  diary,  once  more  resumed  when  he 
had  taken  liis  final  leave  of  Washington  and  politics.  Writ- 
ing in  Philadelphia,  after  he  reached  home,  he  prefaces  tliis 
account  with  a  few  ordinaiy  particulars,  which,  as  they  be- 
long to  this  period  in  the  history  of  his  religious  life,  may  be 
here  introduced.     Under  date  of  March  25,  1813,  he  says, 

"  In  my  relation  as  a  vestryman  of  the  United  Episcopal 
churches  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  I  was  considerably  en- 
gaged in  the  secular  aflkirs  of  the  parish.  I  also  served  as 
a  lay  delegate  in  the  State  Convention  of  1811 ;  and  m  May 
of  that  year  was  sent,  in  the  same  capacity,  to  the  '*  Trien- 
nial" (or  General)  "  Convention  of  the  Episcopal  Church  at 
New  Haven." 

On  his  way  to  New  Haven,  he  spent  a  Sunday  in  New 
York,  where  he  met  and  had  a  pleasant  interview  with 
Dr.  Hobart,  whom,  in  a  letter  to  his  wife,  written  in  New 
Haven,  he  styles  "one  of  my  earliest  and  most  intimate 
friends,"  Dr.  Hobart  was  then  bishop  elect  of  the  diocese 
of  New  York.  "  They  had  been  school-boys  together." 
When  they  met  in  New  York,  "  how  little  did  either  of  them 
think  of  the  relations  which  they  would  bear  towards  each 
other  in  after-years." 


SECTION   II. 

We  proceed  now  to  Mr.  Milnor's  brief  account  of  the 
change  which  gave  a  new  course  and  color  to  his  whole  life. 
Writing  under  date  of  March  25,  1813,  he  says, 

"During  the  past  fall  and  winter,"  that  is,  through  the 
whole  of  his  last  session  in  Congress,  *'  the  interesting  con- 
cerns of  religion  pressed  themselves  upon  me  with  renewed 
force.  The  immense  importance  of  the  soul's  salvation  ;  the 
ineflicacy  of  mere  human  exertion  in  eflccting  it ;  the  abom- 
inable nature  of  sin ;  my  own  character  as  a  sinner ;  the 


EELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  "  103 

riclies  of  grace  in  Christ  Jesus ;  and  the  necessity  of  em- 
bracing his  precious  merits,  as  alone  calculated  to  redeem 
me  from  hell,  renovate  my  nature,  and  fit  me  for  *  an  inheri- 
tance among  the  saints  in  light' — all  these  considerations 
agitated  my  feelings  for  many  weeks  in  their  successive  op- 
erations, until,  by  God's  grace,  I  experienced  some  sense  of 
his  pardoning  mercy,  and  was  made  willing  to  assume  his 
yoke. 

"My  friend  Thomas  Bradford,  Jr.,  being  at  the  same 
time  engaged  in  similar  exercises,  we  exchanged  sundry  let- 
ters, which  I  have  thought  proper  to  transcribe,  as  contain- 
ing a  faithful  record  of  my  spiritual  engagements  during  the 
time  alluded  to,  and  of  the  nature  and  result  of  my  religious 
experience." 

Such  is  the  "  brief  account "  which  he  gives  of  his 
change.  He  wrote  contemporaneous  letters  to  his  wife,  and 
others,  full  of  the  same  theme  ;  and  they,  with  those  to  his 
friend  Bradford,  may  be  taken  as  containing  his  'more  fro- 
longed  account  of  the  process  so  briefly  sketched  in  the 
above  extract  from  his  diary.  A  few  comiected  incidents,  of 
peculiar  interest,  will  properly  introduce  such  extracts  as  it 
may  be  necessary  to  make  from  the  series. 

In  his  letters  to  his  wife,  during  his  second  session  in 
Congress,  he  makes  repeated  reference  to  the  sudden  and 
strange  neglect  of  his  friend  Bradford,  with  whom  he  had 
been  in  habits  of  most  intimate  correspondence  as  a  political 
associate,  but  from  whom  he  had  all  at  once  ceased  to  re- 
ceive any  letters.  He  wondered  and  was  even  offended  at  the 
silence,  and  determined  to  write  him  no  more  till  its  cause 
should  be  explained,  and  the  correspondence  be  resumed 
by  his  friend.  That  cause,  he  soon  after  learned,  was  his 
friend's  decided  conversion.  The  suspension  of  their  corre- 
spondence, however,  continued  till  after  Mr.  Milnor's  third 
and  last  departure  for  Washington.  Mr.  Bradford's  "  Rem- 
iniscences" give  the  following  fuller  account  of  these  ui- 
cidents. 


104  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   MILKOR. 

In  a  season  of  affliction,  during  the  year  1812,  Mr.  Brad- 
ford was  made  more  than  usually  reflective  and  considerate ; 
and  the  consequence  was,  a  decided  change  in  his  whole 
character  and  course  of  life.  For  his  own  comfort,  he  found 
it  necessary  to  withdraw  from  all  intimate  friendships  and 
associations  of  a  worldly  nature.  But  when  he  came  to  the 
point  of  giving  up  the  society  of  his  friend  Milnor,  he  found 
it  the  severest  of  duties.  He  says  that  friend  was  as  closely 
knit  to  him  as  was  ever  the  soul  of  Jonathan  to  that  of 
David.  Nevertheless,  he  resolved  on  the  sacrifice :  their 
correspondence  ceased ;  and  when  Mr.  Milnor  was  in  Phila- 
delphia, even  their  personal  interviews  became  less  frequent. 
Mrs.  Bradford,  by  birth  and  education  an  Episcopalian,  and 
up  to  the  period  of  their  domestic  affliction,  an  essentially 
worldly  lady,  sympathized  with  her  husband  in  his  change, 
and  thenceforward  became  a  devoted  Christian. 

In  this  state  of  their  relations,  and  j  ust  before  the  open- 
ing of  his  third  session  in  Congress,  Mr.  Milnor  called  on  his 
old  friends,  to  give  them  his  farewell.  He  found  Mr.  Brad- 
ford in  his  ofiice,  and  on  inquiring  for  Mrs.  Bradford,  was 
shown  into  the  parlor ;  whence,  after  saying  his  adieus,  he 
returned  to  his  friend.  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  you  have  made 
your  wife  a  Calvinist.  I  found  her  reading  Scott's  Force  of 
Truth.  I  don't  relish  your  spoiling  a  good  Episcopalian. 
You  Presbyterians  are  always  talking  about  Paul,  Paul. 
You  never  talk  of  what  the  gospel  says,  but  always  of  what 
Paul  says."  His  friend  made  no  reply:  they  exchanged 
their  farewells  ;  and  Mr.  Milnor  was  soon  again  in  Congress, 
engrossed,  as  Mr.  Bradford  supposed,  with  his  usual  zeal,  m 
the  politics  and  the  pleasures  of  the  capital. 

Meanwhile,  the  short  session  was  passing  rapidly  away. 
Early  in  January,  1813,  Mr.  Bradford  was  absent  from  Phil- 
adelphia, having  received  no  letter  from  his  friend,  and  not 
caring  to  receive  any,  as  he  could  look  for  nothing  but  the 
usual  budget  about  politics,  or  the  customary  triflings  about 
fashion,  of  both  which  his  soul  had  grown  weary.     Upon 


EELiaiOUS  CHANGE';  105 

his  return  to  the  city,  however,  on  the  25th  of  January,  he 
found  on  his  table  an  evidently  long  communication,  directed 
in  the  well-known  hand  of  his  friend.  Supposing  it  to  be  a 
tedious  talk  about  political  afiairs,  his  first  impulse  was  nol 
to  open  it.  On  reflection,  however,  he  concluded  to  look 
into  it.  He  did  so  ;  and,  to  his  wonder  and  delight,  before 
he  finished  the  first  page,  he  learned  that  his  beloved  Milnor 
was,  if  not  a  Christian  indeed,  yet  absorbed  in  those  deep, 
inward  strugglings  with  sin,  and  strivings  after  Christ, 
which  plainly  foretokened  that  the  day  of  his  deliverance 
"  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto 
God,"  was  at  hand.  He  read  on,  and  soon  came  to  that 
part  of  the  letter  in  which  Mr.  Milnor  says,  "  In  the  expres- 
sive language  of  St.  Paid,  '  I  know  that  in  me,  that  is,  in 
my  flesh,  dwelleth  no  good  thing ;  for  to  will  is  present  with 
me,  but  how  to  perform  that  wliich  is  good,  I  find  not.'  '  I 
delight  in  the  law  of  God,  after  the  imicr  man ;  but  I  see 
another  law  in  my  members  warring  against  the  law  of  my 
mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin 
which  is  in  my  members.  0  wretched  man  that  I  ami; 
who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death?'  I  em- 
brace cordially,  and  pray  the  aids  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  do 
it  etiectually,  the  answer  of  that  eminent  minister,  '  Thardis 
be  to  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.'"  The  reading 
of  this  passage  constrained  Mr.  Bradford  to  break  out  in  joy- 
ous rapture,  exclaiming  to  his  wife,  "  Brother  Milnor  has 
found  Faid  to  be  as  precious  as  we  did." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  Mr.  Bradford  entered  eagerly 
into  the  reopened  correspondence  ;  doubly  thankful  to  God 
for  giving  him  back  not  only  his  old  friend,  but  more,  his 
now  dear  friend  in  Christ — not  only  his  brother  in  the  law, 
but  better,  his  brother  beloved  in  the  gospel. 

The  opening  of  this  interesting  correspondence  between 
the  two  friends  was  in  the  latter  part  of  the  month  of  Jan- 
uary. But,  for  more  than  two  months  before  that  time 
Mr.  Milnor's  mind  had  been  engrossed  with  the  subject  of 

5^ 


106  MEMOIR  OF   DR.   MILNOR. 

religion,  as  a  personal  concern  ;  and  he  had,  meanwhile, 
written  several  letters  to  his  wife,  which,  as  they  mark  the 
ope7ting  of  his  views  and  feelings,  it  wiU  be  proper  to  ex- 
amine before  taking  up  those  which  passed  between  himself 
and  Mr,  Bradford.  Extracts,  arranged  according  to  their 
dates,  are  all  that  need  be  given. 

To  Mrs.  Milnor. 

"Nov.  10,  1812." — The  letter  of  this  date  is  a  long  one 
of  two  full  sheets.  The  first  part  dwells  seriously  on  the 
near  approach  of  the  time  when  he  was  cheerfully  to  lay 
down  the  honors  of  civil  and  political  life,  and  return  to  the 
bosom  of  his  family  ;  and  on  the  deep  peril  to  all  his  hopes 
and  prospects  as  a  Christian  man,  of  the  scenes  in  which  he 
had  been  acting  his  part.  It  is  a  sweet,  beautiful  letter. 
The  following  are  some  of  its  passages. 

"  You  will,  no  doubt,  be  surprised  at  the  seriousness  of 
this  letter.  But  my  mind  always  recurring,  at  some  sea- 
sons, to  religious  contemplations,  and  never,  I  hope,  wholly 
without  religious  impressions,  has,  ever  since  I  left  home, 
been  much  engaged  in  the  duty  of  self-exammation,  the  only 
means  of  discovering  the  truth  of  that  awful  confession, 
which  we  so  often  make  with  our  lips  without  realizing  in 
our  hearts,  that  'We  have  left  undone  those  things  which 
we  ought  to  have  done ;  and  we  have  done  those  things 
which  we  ought  not  to  have  done  ;  and  there  is  no  health  in 
us.'  I  have  recurred  to  my  baptismal  vows,*  and  find  much 
more  care  necessary,  on  my  part,  in  their  future,  as  there 
has  been  much  neglect  in  their  past  observance  ;  and  I  have 
had  deeper  impressions  than  heretofore  of  the  necessity  of 
acquiring  that  temper  of  mind,  and  of  pursuing  that  course 
of  conduct,  which  will  prepare  us  for  conforming  to  all  the 
duties  incumbent  on  us  as  members  of  the  Christian  church, 

*  Having  been  educated  a  Quaker,  he  was  not  baptized  in  infancy, 
but  received  adult  baptism  after  his  connection  with  the  Episcopal 
church. 


RELiaious  cHANairr  107 

especially  ior  a  participation  in  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
supper  ;  a  duty  so  strongly  enjoined,  that  whenever  my  mind 
has  been  drawn  to  the  subject,  I  have  felt  much  self-con- 
demnation for  having  so  long  neglected  to  make  suitable 
preparation  for  becoming  a  communicant.  This,  with  God's 
help,  I  am  now  resolved  to  do.  The  reception  of  this  ordi- 
nance, I  am  persuaded,  is  *  our  bounden  duty'  as  Christians. 
If  we  are  not  prepared  for  it,  we  ought  to  become  so  ;  and 
our  unpreparedness  will,  in  the  great  day  of  account,  be  no 
apology  for  the  omission.  It  is  one  of  the  means  for  making 
us  what  we  ought  to  be,  and  onust  be,  if  we  purpose  becom- 
ing candidates  for  a  heavenly  inheritance.  If  some  ill- 
natured  or  misjudgulg  people  should  deride,  or  censure  our 
conformity  to  what  they  cannot  deny  to  be  legitimate  and 
momentous  ceremonials  of  the  Christian  Church,  instituted 
and  commanded  to  be  observed  by  our  Saviour  himself,  it  is 
no  more  than  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  all  professors  of  religion, 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree ;  and  it  will  cease,  when  more  of 
those  who  are  far  removed  from  the  character  of  fanatics 
and  enthusiasts,  have  courage  to  avow  openly,  yet  not  with 
vanity,  ostentation,  or  illiberality  towards  others,  ^full  unio7i 
with  the  Church  in  all  her  rites,  and  to  pursue  a  course  of  con- 
duct answerable  to  their  Christian  profession,  yet  comporting 
with  a  full  discharge  of  professional  and  civil  duties,  a  cheer- 
ful intercourse  with  virtuous  society,  and  a  moderate  indul- 
gence in  the  innocent  relaxations  and  amusements  of  life." 

Both  the  date  of  this  letter,  and  its  style  of  remark,  indi- 
cate its  place  at  the  very  commencement  of  his  new  experi- 
ences, and  show  that  he  was,  m  truth,  but  just  beginning 
to  feel  his  way  out  of  darkness.  The  next  extract  indicates, 
among  other  things,  as  deep  a  sensibility  to  the  perils  of  legal 
practice,  as  the  last  had  expressed  in  regard  to  those  oi polit- 
ical pursuits. 

"Nov.  18,  1812. — I  intend,  so  far  as  I  can  without 
unnecessary  singularity,  to  keep  myself  at  home,  where  I 
find  a  satisfaction,  which  increases  by  habit,  in  the  labor  of 


103  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

study,  and  the  varieties  of  miscellaneous  reading,  writing, 
and  serious  contemplation.  It  is  only  by  inuring  one's  self 
to  retirement,  that  we  can  learn  fully  to  appreciate  the  value 
of  that  injunction,  '  Commune  with  your  own  heart  and  in 
your  chamber,  and  be  still.'  I  am  far  from  being  an  advo- 
cate for  entire  seclusion  from  society.  It  is  a  scriptural  posi- 
tion, that  religion  does  not  call  a  person  out  of  the  ivorld, 
but  teaches  him  how  to  live  in  it.  Particular  situations 
and  pursuits,  however,  are  particularly  exceptionable  on 
account  of  being  attended  with  more  pain  to  a  tender  con- 
science, more  distraction,  more  occasions  of  irritation  than 
others.  Such  I  have  long  deemed  a  laiuyers  life.  He  is 
often  obliged  to  advocate  one  side,  when  his  own  understand- 
ing and  sense  of  justice  would,  if  freely  exercised,  induce  him 
to  espouse  the  other.  He  lives  in  a  crowd,  and  witnesses  a 
scene  of  perpetual  strife.  Yet  his  is  a  necessary  and  useful 
occupation  ;  onay  be  pursued  by  an  honest  man  with  advan- 
tage to  the  community  ;  and  is  highly  honorable  in  the  esti- 
mation of  society.  As  a  mode  of  life,  preferable  to  others,  I 
have  never,  from  the  beginning,  been  attached  to  it.  I  now 
sigh  for  retirement.  I  am  haunted  by  a  perpetual  feeling  of 
disgust  at  the  prospect  of  reentering  the  scene  of  contention, 
and  of  enduring  the  pertnesses  of  that  tribe  of  young  com- 
petitors, every  day  increasing  in  number  and  diminishing  in 
respectability  and  worth.  And  yet,  many  difficulties  He  in 
the  way  of  any  scheme  for  retirement ;  and  this  has  prevent- 
ed my  saying  more  to  you  in  conversation  on  the  plan  sug- 
gested to  you  in  my  letter  last  winter.  I  wish  not  idleness  : 
it  is  the  parent  of  diBcouteiil,  unci  of  many  vices.  My  desire 
is  for  a  situation  attended  with  tranquillity,  with  intervals  of 
abstraction  from  general  intercourse,  and  with  consequent 
opportunities  for  varied  reading,  embracing  the  improvement 
of  the  understanding,  the  innocent  amusement  of  occasional 
leisure,  but,  above  all,  what  I  am  at  times  airfidhj  afraid 
of  neglecting  till  it  be   too  late,   a  solid  j;;Y;y?r//Y///<:;/';   for 

ETERNITY." 


HELiaiOUS  CHAKG-irr  .     109 

"  My  next  leisure  shall  be  devoted  to  an  attempt  at  solv- 
ing the  difficulty  so  pathetically  stated  in  your  letter,  where 
you  say,  '  I  know  not  what  to  do.'  Your  difficulty  is  pre- 
cisely that  which  ought  to  be  felt  at  the  begmning  of  a 
change  of  life.  Oh  how  sensibly  do  I  feel  it  at  this  very 
moment  I  So  did  one  in  the  earliest  days  of  the  Church, 
when  he  exclaimed,  '  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?'  I  wish 
I  felt  more  experimentally  the  weight  of  the  answer  which 
was  given.  Read  the  Scriptures  ,  pray  humbly  and  fer- 
vently ;  lay  aside  dependence  on  self;  embrace  the  merits 
of  a  crucified  Redeemer,  as  your  deliverer  from  sin  ;  rely  on 
him  and  his  grace  for  humffity,  contrition  of  soul  for  past 
oilences,  and  strength  to  maintain  resolutions  of  future 
amendment ;  use  all  the  means  which  his  goodness  has  pro- 
vided, and  which,  next  to  the  gospel,  are  to  be  found  in  our 
excellent  forms  of  devotion,  and  in  the  ordinances  of  our  holy 
religion. 

"  You  see  that  a  train  of  serious  thought,  which  I  be- 
lieve it  to  be  my  duty  to  encourage,  has,  in  a  few  words, 
given  you  the  answer  which  I  meant  to  reserve  for  a  future 
letter.  God  forbid,  that  while  I  thus  attempt  to  instruct 
you,  '  I  should  myself  become  a  castaway.'  " 

The  thoughtful  reader  will  mark  in  the  above  passages, 
as  striking  encouragements,  the  writer's  awful  fear  of  miss- 
ing a  solid  preparation  for  eternity  ;  his  deep  sense  of  his 
own  ignorance  of  the  way  of  life,  as  being  a  mere  beginner 
in  the  search  ;  and  his  impressive  dread  of  becoming  himself 
a  castaway,  while  engaged  in  teaching  others  how  to  be 
saved. 

The  next  letter  exhibits  a  scene  not  often  witnessed  amid 
the  influences  of  political  life — a  praying  congressman,  be- 
ginning to  seek  his  Saviour,  with  a  readiness  to  take  up  his 
cross  and  follow  Christ. 

"  Nov.  21,  1812. — Whenever  accident  or  choice  throws 
me  into  solitude,  the  interesting  concerns  of  the  soul  and  of 
a  future  state  press  upon  my  thoughts  and  feelings  in  a  man- 


110  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

ner  calculated  to  produce  the  best  efTects ;  wliile  much  for- 
getful ness  of  these  things  is  always  the  result  of  extreme 
engagedness  in  the  perplexities  of  politics  and  business.  My 
desire  is  to  become  so  grounded  in  the  duties  of  faith  and 
obedience,  and  so  strengthened  in  a  religious  course,  by  habit- 
ual study  of  the  Bible,  and  a  sincere  and  lively  performance 
of  all  the  public  and  private,  external  and  internal  require- 
ments of  religion,  that  I  may  go  into  the  world  and  take  a 
moderate  share  in  its  affairs,  while  I  escape  its  pollutions 
and  vices.  I  speak  of  my  desire  only,  for  I  tremble  at  the 
prospect  of  my  weakness  and  deficiency  in  the  performance. 
God  will  do  his  part,  but  I  have  little  confidence  m  my  own 
perseverance  and  fidelity  in  the  performance  of  mine.  A 
sad  experience  of  past  defections  alarms  me  for  the  future. 
From  infancy  to  the  present  moment,  a  sense  of  religious 
obligation,  of  its  violation  in  my  conduct  through  life,  and  of 
the  necessity  of  a  change,  has  occasionally  impressed  me  very 
forcibly,  and  prompted  resolutions  of  amendment,  and  a  tem- 
porary adherence  to  them.  But  too  much  mixture  in  gen- 
eral society,  excessive  involvement  in  the  affairs  of  the  world, 
and  neglect  of  the  means  provided  in  the  gospel  and  in  the 
institutions  of  the  Christian  Church,  have  conspired  with 
the  infirmities  of  human  nature,  and  induced  deplorable 
relapses. 

"  Thanks  be  to  God,  a  proud  spirit  has  latterly  yielded 
to  one  of  lowly  prostration  at  the  footstool  of  divine  mercy. 
I  am  not  ashamed,  in  the  privacy  of  my  chamber,  to  bend 
my  knees  and  implore  a^  blessing  on  my  feeble  endeavors  ;  to 
supphcate  divine  assistance  in  the  duties  of  the  day,  and  to 
implore  a  heavenly  covering  of  protection  from  the  dangers 
of  the  night ;  and  with  the  aid  of  divine  grace,  I  ivill  not  bo 
ashamed  nor  afraid  to  assume  the  cross,  and  make  a  public 
profession  by  a  union  with  the  church  in  the  solemn  service 
of  the  sacramental  supper." 

From  the  close  of  this  extract,  as  well  as  from  other 
expressions  in  his  letters,  it  would  seem  that  he  had  been 


RELiaiOUS  CHANGi::'  111 

the  subject  of  a  strong  feeling  of  shame,  keeping  him  from 
what  he  had  regarded  as  the  weakness  of  conforming  to  the 
outward  rites  of  the  church.  Perhaps  Ungering  influences 
from  his  early  Gluaker  education,  so  unfriendly  to  all  external 
ordinances,  may  have  kept  alive  this  strong  sentiment,  and 
rendered  what  is  to  others,  when  brought  to  Christ,  an  easy 
duty,  to  him  one  of  the  severest  of  trials. 

His  next  letter  is  chiefly  an  account  of  some  books  which 
he  had  purchased,  and  had  been  reading — The  Apostolical 
Fathers,  and  the  Life  of  Sir  William  Jones.  From  the  latter 
he  quotes,  as  specially  interesting  to  him,  '*  Sir  William's 
translation  of  four  beautiful  Persian  hues." 

"  On  parent  knees,  a  naked  new-born  child, 
Weeping  thou  sat'st,  while  all  around  thee  smiled; 
So  live^  that,  sinking  in  thy  last  long  sleep, 
Calm  thou  may'st  smile,  while  all  around  thee  weep." 

At  this  period  he  was  evidently  much  engaged  in  read- 
ing, and  in  one  of  his  letters  describes  his  mamier  of  reading 
good  books  to  good  account,  having  been  recently  much 
delighted  with  "  the  inimitable,  saintlike  Cowper."  But 
with  "  the  best  of  books"  he  was  most  concerned  to  make 
himself  familiar.  As  a  statesman,  devoutly  studying  his 
Bible,  he  was,  to  the  best  effect,  learning  how  to  do  his 
country  good ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  his  own  soul  was 
most  effectually  growing  "  wise  unto  salvation."  He  writes, 
under  date  of 

"  Nov.  25,  1812. — I  mean  to  read  the  best  of  all  books, 
accompanied  by  the  use  of  the  pen,  in  extracting  or  noting 
remarkable  passages  ;  for  my  ignorance  of  its  blessed  con- 
tents is  a  perpetual  source  of  self-condemnation,  which  can- 
not be  diminished  but  by  '  letting  the  time  past  suffice  for 
having  wrought  the  will  of  the  Gentiles,'  and  by  endeavor- 
ing in  future  to  find  some  other  use  for  this  invaluable  book 
than  that  of  making  its  blank  leaves  a  record  of  family  bless- 
mgs  and  family  misfortunes.  Join  heartily  with  me,  my 
best  friend,  in  so  good  a  purpose,     God  will  give  the  aid  of 


112  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

his  Holy  Spirit  in  our  sincere  obedience  to  his  own  injunction 
to  '  search  the  Scriptures,'  as  the  ibuntain  of  '  eternal  life,' 
and  as  the  oracles  '  which  testify  of  him.'  Then  may  wo 
expect  to  find,  what 

"  '  too  many  do  not  know, 

That  Scripture  is  the  only  cure  of  woe. 
That  field  of  promise — how  it  flings  abroad 
Its  odor  o'er  the  Christian's  thorny  road ! 
The  soul,  reposing  on  assured  relief, 
Feels  herself  happy  amidst  all  her  grief, 
Forgets  her  labor  as  she  toils  along, 
Weeps  tears  of  joy,  and  bursts  into  a  song.'  " 

"  Through  thy  commandments  I  get  understanding ; 
therefore  I  hate  all  evil  ways."  Such  was  the  experience 
of  the  Psalmist ;  and  that  of  Mr.  Milnor  was  coincident. 
The  study  of  the  Bible  gave  him  understanding,  especially 
oi  Jiimaelf ;  therefore  he  hated  all  evil  ways,  particularly 
those  of  his  oivn  heart.  Accordingly,  in  the  next  letter  to 
his  wile  which  comes  under  our  notice,  he  goes  deeply  into 
self-examiiiation,  with  special  reference  to  those  sms  and 
faults  wliich  had  occasionally  overcast,  with  a  fleetly  pass- 
ing cloud,  the  otherwise  clear  sunshine  of  their  domestic 
happiness.  After  using,  with  a  faithful  hand,  ^  the  moral 
probe  which  divine  truth  had  furnished  him,  he  adds  : 

"Dec.  7,  1812. — Forgive  me  for  recurring  to  these  un- 
pleasant topics.  In  looking  forward  to  a  closer  union  with 
our  God,  in  the  blessed  sacrament  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
his  dear  Son,  a  primary  duty  is  self-examination.  In  this 
work,  a  review  of  one's  past  life  is  mdispensable ;  and,  as  I 
write  now  under  the  inspection  of  the  all-seeing  eye,  one  of 
the  sins  which  I  have  felt  it  peculiarly  necessary  to  confess, 
and,  by  divine  grace,  to  abandon,  has  been  that  of  giving 
way  to  improper  feelhigs  induced  by  trivial  occurrences,  of 
not  curbing  a  temper  too  quickly  excited,  and  of  falling  into 
a  consequent  indulgence  of  language  and  conduct  from  which 
a  real  Christian  ought  ever  to  abstain." 

In  reply  to  the  inquiry  why  he  pressed  this  subject  upon 


EELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  113 

his  wife  as  well  as  upon  himself,  he  adds,  "  Because  I  wish 
to  make  you  the  depositary  of  all  my  thoughts ;  because  I 
wish  you  to  begin  with  me  a  new  life  ;  and  because  a  sense 
of  mutual  folly,  and  united  resolutions  of  future  amendment, 
are  necessary  to  that  happy  passage  through  the  residue  of 
our  span  of  life,  which  I  have  a  confident  persuasion  God 
will  aflbrd  us,  if,  by  uprightness  of  heart  and  holiness  of  life, 
we  merit  it  at  his  hands.  Do  not  misunderstand  me  in  the 
use  of  this  term, '  merit'  I  am  more  and  more  convinced  " — 
[we  have  seen  the  reason  why  he  needed  to  be  so,  in  his  ac- 
knowledged "  mischievous  conceit  of  the  merit  of  works"] — 
"as  I  give  the  important  subject  of  religion  deeper  and  more 
solid  consideration,  that  our  performances  are  no  otherwise 
acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God  than  as  they  are  produced  by 
the  spirit  of  the  gospel ;  and  that,  with  respect  to  our  ulti- 
mate hopes  of  eternal  happiness,  these  hopes  are  worse  than 
vain,  if  they  have  any  other  ground  to  rest  upon  than  the 
atonement  of  the  blessed  Saviour,  whose  all-sujjicient  merits 
have  given  that  satisfaction  to  offended  justice,  which  our 
imperfect  obedience  never  could  have  done." 

On  the  day  next  after  the  date  of  the  last  extract,  Mr. 
Milnor  wrote  to  Bishop  White  a  statement  of  his  views 
touching  the  Lord's  supper,  and  proposed  to  become  a  com- 
municant so  soon  as  propriety  and  the  good  bishop's  consent 
would  permit.  But  as  those  views  are  identical  with  what 
we  find  in  the  letters  to  his  wife,  extracts  are  needless. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  reader  will  be  surprised  to  learn, 
that  in  the  evening  of  the  very  day  on  which  he  thus  wrote 
to  his  bishop,  he  attended  a  ball.  But  it  should  be  remem- 
bered, that  he  was  not  yet  wholly  in  the  light  on  the  subject 
of  his  former  worldly  amusements,  although  he  had  light 
enough  to  make  him  go  reluctantly,  and  only  in  obedience 
to  what  he  supposed  a  call  of  duty.  "  It  was  the  ball  given 
by  naval  officers  to  Captain  Hull  and  others  then  in  Wash- 
ington ;  and  his  position  as  a  member  of  the  naval  commit- 
tee, seemed  to  render  it  necessary  that  he  should  attend  and 


114  MEMOIE,  OF  DE..  MTLNOH. 

participate  in  tlie  compliment.  He  went  late,  came  away 
early,  and  enjoyed  little  satisfaction  in  his  reluctant  compli- 
ance with  the  call."  His  comments  on  what  he  saw  further 
illustrate  the  state  of  his  feelings,  and  show  that,  if  his  views 
of  Christian  duty  were  not  yet  perfectly  clear,  at  least  the 
tendency  of  his  religious  tastes  was  in  the  direction  of  what 
is  thoroughly  right. 

"  The  crowd  was  great,  and  no  Parisian  assembly  of 
equal  numbers  ever  exhibited  a  greater  proportion  of  ex- 
travagantly painted  women.     The  people  of  this  place 

"  '  Still  sacrifice  to  dress,  till  household  joys 

And  comforts  cease.     Dress  drains  their  cellars  dry, 
And  keeps  their  larders  lean ;  puts  out  their  fires ; 
And  introduces  hunger,  frost,  and  woe, 
Where  peace  and  hospitality  might  reign.' 

Never  was  satire  more  just  than  this  of  Cowper,  applied  to 
the  people  of  this  place,  clerks  and  others,  depending  on  the 
public  for  support,  and  receiving  salaries  abundant  for  do- 
mestic comfort,  but  insufficient  for  the  purposes  of  extrava- 
gance and  show.  Every  deprivation  is  submitted  to  in  pri- 
vate, in  order  to  be  able  to  mingle,  with  some  display  of 
brilliancy,  in  the  fashionable  throng.  Happy  would  it  be 
for  their  infant  families,  if  they  better  accommodated  them- 
selves to  their  situation  in  life,  and  if  they  could  be  convinced 
before  they  verify,  m  their  own  experience,  how  truly  the 
same  delightful  moralist  describes  the  nature  and  end  of 
these  amusements : 

"  '  The  rout  is  Folly's  circle,  which  she  draws 
With  magic  wand.     So  potent  is  the  spell, 
That  none,  decoyed  into  that  fatal  ring — 
Unless  by  Heaven's  peculiar  grace — escape. 
There  we  grow  early  gray,  but  never  wise ; 
There,  form  connections,  but  acquire  no  friend , 
Solicit  pleasure,  hopeless  of  success  ; 
Waste  youth  in  occupations  only  fit 
For  second  childhood,  and  devote  old  age 
To  sports  which  only  childhood  could  excuse. 


RELIG-IOUS  CHANGE.  115 

They  are  the  happiest  who  dissemble  best 
Their  weariness  ;  and  they  the  most  polite, 
Who  squander  time  and  treasm-e  with  a  smile.' 

"  I  believe  I  did  not  play  my  part  so  well  as  to  dissem- 
ble 7ny  weariness  ;  but  I  think  that,  with  a  view  of  so  much 
frippery  and  folly,  I  gained  one  advantage,  and  that  is,  a 
confirmation  of  my  resolution  to  mix  as  little  as  I  can  in 
these  extensive  scenes  of  gayety,  and  to  cherish  the  society 
of  a  few  chosen  friends.  I  am  7iot  satisfied  tuith  myself  iox 
having  done  otherwise  in  this  instance ;  but  I  hope  my  heart 
is  free  from  the  influence  of  any  of  the  poisons  of  this  perni- 
cious, unsatisfactory  intercourse." 

On  the  14th  of  December,  he  had  received  a  kind  letter 
from  Bishop  White,  encouraging  him  to  visit  Philadelphia, 
with  a  view  to  communion  on  the  25th  of  the  month.  He 
determined  to  accept  the  invitation ;  and  so  anxious  was  he 
that  his  wife  should  accompany  him,  that  his  letters,  at  this 
period,  are  full  of  the  one  labor  of  persuading  her  to  the  duty. 
The  thought  seems  to  have  occurred  to  hun,  that  possibly 
she  might  be  influenced  to  delay,  by  the  supposition  that  his 
feelings  were  but  temporary  excitement,  and  would  soon  pass 
away  and  be  forgotten.  To  meet  this  supposition,  he  wrote 
as  foUoAvs  : 

"Dec.  16,  1812. — -I  fear  you  little  relish  the  style  of  my 
late  letters,  and  that  you  probably  consider  it  the  result  of  a 
momentary  depression  of  spirits,  arising  from  my  lonely  situ- 
ation, and  my  dissatisfaqtion  with  public  life.  If  you  should 
have  entertained  such  an  idea,  I  hope  it  is  a  mistaken  one. 
I  say  '  hoi^e,''  for  God  knows,  considering  the  opportunities 
which  I  have  had  for  religious  improvement,  and  the  un- 
questionable goodness  of  my  heavenly  Benefactor,  in  the 
unceasing  tender  of  the  aids  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  through  the 
medium  of  the  gospel  and  other  appointed  channels  of  grace ; 
considering  also  the  many  secret  purposes  of  a  better  life 
which  I  have  heretofore  unavailingly  formed,  and  the  con- 
tuiual  deviations  to  which  I  am  daily  yielding  in  thought, 


116  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

word,  and  action,  that  I  dare  not  too  confidently  anticipate 
a  firm  and  undaunted  perseverance  in  a  religious  course. 
As  to  my  retired  situation,  it  need  not  be  so  if  I  desired  otli- 
erwise ;  for  a  man  here  has  only  to  put  himself  in  the  way 
of  fashionable  dissipation,  and  he  would  be  engaged  ui  it 
almost  every  day.  1  avoid  it  as  much  as  a  decent  conform- 
ity to  custom  will  admit,  both  from  a  present  sense  of  duty, 
and  from  a  feeling  of  dislike  to  it,  which  every  day  increases. 
As  to  dissatisfaction  with  public  life,  I  plead  guilty  to  the 
charge ;  but  this  mode  of  lil'e  does  not  depress  my  spirits, 
because  the  period  of  its  termination  is  so  near  at  hand. 
No,  my  love,  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  a  perusal  of  the 
writings  of  good  men,  attendance  upon  public  worship,  and 
silent  meditation  and  reflection,  have  long  ago  convinced  me 
of  the  truths  of  our  holy  religion,  and  of  the  necessity  of  our 
observing  punctually  its  sacred  ordinances." 

The  remainder  of  the  letter  is  devoted  to  his  usual  theme, 
urging  seriously  and  solemnly  on  Mrs.  Milnor  the  duty  of 
immediate  preparation  for  the  Lord's  supper. 

The  business  of  Congi-ess,  however,  soon  became  so  ur- 
gent that  he  was  unable  to  visit  Philadelphia  in  time  for 
communion  on  the  Christmas  festival.  He  felt  the  disap- 
pointment severely,  but  without  a  murmur ;  and  it  may, 
perhaps,  be  regarded  as  a  kindly  wise  providence,  that  kept 
him  yet  a  while  in  Washington,  amid  the  dealings  of  God  in 
the  secrecy  of  his  chamber.  For  it  is  almost  hnpossible  not 
to  see  from  his  letters,  that  as  yet  he  had  not  looked  deeply 
enough  into  himself,  nor  felt  with  sufficient  power  the  work- 
uigs  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  convincing  him  of  sin,  and  throwing 
hun,  as  \ii&  first  step,  not  on  outward  ordinances,  but  upon 
Christ  alone  for  pardon,  peace,  and  life.  Had  he  gone  to 
Philadelphia  at  the  time  proposed,  there  was  danger,  after 
all,  of  his  resting  on  outward  ordinances  as  the  way  to  Christ, 
instead  of  finding  hi  Christ,  first,  the  life,  and  power,  and 
significancy  of  all  subsequent  ordinances. 

Ill  a  letter,  written  about  a  week  after  the  last  extract. 


RELiaiOUS  CHANGE.  117 

the  truth  of  the  above  remarks  appears  to  be  confirmed. 
Rising  with  the  early  sun,  and  commencing  his  morning 
walk  with  a  repining  feeling  in  his  heart,  as  the  memory  of 
his  recent  disappointment  was  revived,  he  seems  to  have 
been  led  into  higher  views  of  God,  and  into  deeper  views  of 
himself  than  any  before  described. 

"Dec.  22,  1812. — It  is  now  between  eight  and  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  I  have  just  returned  from  a  long, 
solitary  walk.  The  morning  is  unusually  serene  for  the 
season,  the  roads  dry,  and  every  thing  propitious  to  travel- 
ling either  in  carriage  or  on  foot.  I  could  not  help  repining 
a  little,  though  I  know  it  was  wrong,  at  the  untoward  cir- 
cumstances that  have  intervened  to  prevent  the  execution 
of  my  purpose  to  avail  myself  of  such  pleasant  weather  for 
my  journey  home.  Reflections  of  this  kind,  however,  quickly 
gave  way  to  contemplations  of  a  very  different  character. 
The  itnmensity  of  that  Being  who  formed  the  scenery  around 
me,  which  even  winter  had  not  robbed  of  its  charms  ;  his 
goodness,  in  making  such  rich  provision  for  his  creatures ; 
his  kind  providence,  in  preserving,  sustaining,  and  super- 
intending all  the  works  of  his  hands;  and,  above  all,  his 
unspeakable  love,  in  the  redemption  from  eternal  death  of  a 
rebellious  world,  that  had,  by  sin,  forfeited  every  claim  to  his 
favor,  broke  in  upon  my  7nind  ivith  unusual  force,  and  ex- 
cited a  rapturous  feehng  of  thankful  gratitude,  which  I  am  un- 
able to  describe.  But  alas,  when,  from  such  high-wrought, 
glowing  contemplations,  my  thoughts  were  turned  upon 
myself,  how  different  the  sight  presented  to  the  mental  view : 
a  poor,  frail  child  of  the  dust,  '  conceived  in  sin,  and  shapen 
in  iniquity  ;'  '  prone  to  sin  as  the  sparks  fly  upwards  ;'  and 
daily  offending,  in  thought,  word,  and  action,  the  glorious 
Being  to  whom  my  reflections  had  ventured  to  ascend  :  en- 
dowed with  reason,  blessed  with  the  light  of  revelation,  fur- 
nished with  all  '  the  means  of  grace,'  and  encouraged,  in  the 
use  of  them,  to  indulge  '  the  hope  of  glory  ;'  yet  still  cleaving 
to  the  earth,  yielding  to  unsubdued  appetites,  the  victim  of 


118  IIEMOIE  OF  DE.  MILNOR. 

every  surrounding  temptation,  and,  in  short,  a  rcbA  against 
the  sovereignty  of  licaven.  Surely,  said  I  within  myself, 
such  a  transgressor  cannot  look  for  pardon  to  that  God  whom 
he  has  oifended ;  he  cannot  claim  the  benefit  of  that  sacri- 
fice for  sin  which  he  has  so  often  slighted ;  he  cannot  he 
again  supplied  with  the  aids  of  that  Holy  Spirit,  to  whom 
he  '  has  done  despite,'  and  whom  he  is  continually  grievuig 
by  his  sins.  These  harrowing  reflections  were,  however, 
relieved  by  suggestions  of  the  most  soothing  kind,  derived 
from  the  long-suffering  goodness  of  our  heavenly  Father,  and 
from  the  comforting  'promises  held  forth  in  the  gospel  of  his 
blessed  Son.  I  felt  new  force  and  beauty  in  the  penitential 
confession  at  the  beginning  of  our  service,  and  let  it  flow 
from  my  lips  with  heartfelt  sincerity  and  humihty. 

"  Such  is  the  result  of  a  morning's  walk  in  AYashington. 
I  came  into  my  chamber  with  humble  confidence  in  God, 
but  stripjjed  of  all  reliance  upon  myself;  being  firmly  per- 
suaded, that  He  alone  can  fit  us  for  every  good  word  and 
work,  and  that  it  is  by  his  gracious  assistance  only  that  we 
can  accomplish  our  best  purposes,  or  persevere  to  the  end  in 
a  course  of  living  well-pleasmg  in  his  sight." 

How  plainly  does  this  passage  tell  of  the  strong  onward 
movement  of  the  divine  Spirit  in  his  work  of  new-creating 
grace.  How  does  it  show  the  gkeat  ciiaracteh  of  God 
rising  on  the  view  of  his  servant  with  more  power  than  a 
universe  of  splendors  ;  and  influxes  therefrom,  pouring  m  as 
from  a  full- coming  tide  of  blessedness ;  and  then  the  soul, 
driven  down  from  her  unwonted  elevation,  into  deep  inward 
searchings  ;  self,  detected  as  a  rebel  against  the  divine  sov- 
ereignty ;  and  the  sinner  stripped,  as  by  an  almighty  hand, 
of  all  self-confidence  I  It  is  true,  the  references  to  Christ 
are  yet  but  incidental.  He  occupies  not  the  foreground  of 
the  view.  The  chief  objects  which  fill  the  field  of  vision, 
are,  God  in  his  glory,  stirring  a  heart  that  yearns  to  be 
reconciled ;  and  the  sinner  in  his  ruin,  knowing  no  salva- 
tion but  in  that  God  upon  whom  he  has  been  looking.     But 


RELiaiOUS   CHANGE.  119 

then,  glimpses  at  least  of  Christ  are  had,  as  though  the  cross 
were  in  sight,  however  dim  in  the  distance  ;  and  liglit  from 
the  Sun  of  righteousness  is  filling  the  soul's  firmament,  as  if 
that  Sun  were  himself  about  to  mount  above  his  horizon. 

As  might  be  expected,  liis  next  letter  to  Mrs.  Milnor 
touching  the  subject  of  rehgion,  under  date  o^  January  26, 
1813,  expresses  stronger  dislike  than  ever  both  of  the  poli- 
tics and  of  the  fashions  of  Washington,  as  having  a  most 
unfriendly  influence  on  his  religious  progress,  and  keeping 
him  from  those  full  comforts  of  hope  in  Christ,  for  which  his 
recent  experience  made  him  thirst  with  all  the  earnestness 
of  a  new-born  soul.  In  truth,  one  of  the  greatest  wonders 
presented  in  his  case,  is  the  fact,  that  such  a  work  as  that 
in  his  heart,  was  begun  under  such  hostile  influences,  and 
carried  on  against  such  accumulated  opposition  as  met  him 
in  the  circumstances  amid  which  he  was  placed.  But  that 
"work  was  of  God,  and  not  of  man  ;  and  the  divine  power 
was  the  more  manifest  in  his  behalf,  inasmuch  as  from  every 
other  quarter  the  prospect  was  so  unusually,  so  absolutely 
hopeless. 

His  next  letter  is  so  full  of  Christ,  the  Cross,  and  the 
work  of  the  Spirit,  and  alludes  so  distinctly  to  a  possible 
change  of  profession,  that  it  may  well  be  given,  with  slight 
omissions,  entire. 

"Washington,  January  27,  1813. 

"  My  dear  Ellen — I  wrote  you  yesterday,  and  know 
not  why  I  should  again  trouble  you  to-day ;  having  nothing 
amusing  to  communicate,  and  having  already  sufficiently 
fatigued  you  on  subjects  in  which  you  cannot  feel  an  interest 
until  your  mind  is  awakened,  in  a  more  hvely  manner  than 
it  has  yet  been,  to  the  realities  of  religion,  and  the  indispens- 
able necessity  of  receiving  the  Saviour  through  the  exercise 
of  faith  in  his  atonement,  and  the  sanctifying  influences  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Suppose  not,  my  beloved,  that  I  mean  unkindly 
to  reproach  you.  It  would  ill  become  me  to  do  so.  My 
own  attainments  little  qualify  me  for  the  duties  of  a  censor, 


120  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

or  a  counsellor.  I  feel  too  forcibly,  as  applied  to  myself,  the 
weight  of  that  injunction,  to  take  the  beam  out  of  one's  own 
eye,  before  we  nicely  discern  the  mote  in  the  eye  of  another. 
/  think  I  see  the  better  way,  and  would  fain  walk  in  it.  I 
believe  my  happiness,  both  here  and  hereafter,  depends  on 
my  doing  so.  Natural  pride  has  so  far  been  brought  into 
subjection  to  the  Cross,  that  I  dare  humbly  venture,  before 
I  close  my  eyelids,  and  when  permitted  again  to  awake  from 
the  death  of  sleep,  to  address  my  thanksgivings  and  praises 
to  the  great  Creator  and  Preserver  of  my  existence,  confess 
my  unworthiness  of  the  blessings  with  which  I  am  favored, 
implore  better  dispositions  for  his  service,  and,  above  all, 
solicit  an  interest  in  the  all-prevailing  intercessions  of  a  once 
crucified,  but  now  risen  Redeemer. 

"  Yet,  though  a  rebellious  spirit  has,  I  trust,  through 
God's  grace,  been  subdued  within  me,  so  far  as  to  compel 
me  to  repent  in  dust  and  ashes  for  my  multiplied  transgres- 
sions, and  to  seek  divine  aid  in  the  maintenance  of  a  bet- 
ter life,  I  see  futurity  beset  with  a  thousand  difficulties.  I 
know  not  how  I  can  avoid  those  smaller  follies,  as  the  world 
would  call  them,  arising  out  of  the  manners  and  customs, 
the  fashions  and  associations  of  a  large  city  ;  and  yet  con- 
science tells  me,  in  a  voice  of  solemn  warning,  many  of  them 
must  be  abandoned.  Abstmence  from  glaring  and  profligate 
wickedness,  which  a  regard  to  the  decencies  of  life  and  to 
personal  character  prevents  in  many  who  are  destitute  of  a 
principle  of  Christian  piety,  will  not  satisfy  the  requisitions 
of  the  gospel.  Many  even  of  the  lawful  pleasures  of  social 
intercourse  must  be  abridged  in  their  frequency  and  degree ; 
and  levity  and  thoughtlessness  must  more  frequently  give 
place  to  solid  reflection  and  seriousness  of  mind  and  deport- 
ment. In  this  respect,  I  solemnly  believe  it  is  indispensa- 
bly necessary  to  assume  the  cross,  and  to  subject  natural 
inclination  to  an  implicit  obedience  to  the  precepts  and 
spirit  of  the  gospel.  How  hard  the  task  is  to  the  beginner, 
is  evident  to  me  from  my  own  daily  struggles ;  and  it  was 


RELIG-IOUS  CHANaE.  121 

evident  to  you,  when,  on  my  last  visit,  I  gave  you  such  im- 
perfect testimony  to  my  stability  in  a  course  of  practice  con- 
formable to  the  profession  wliich,  in  my  preceding  letters,  I 
had  avowed. 

"  A  still  more  formidable  difficulty  lies  in  my  professional 
pursuits.  In  the  conduct  of  them  heretofore,  I  have  endeav- 
ored to  maintain  fidelity  towards  my  clients,  and  integrity 
towards  all.  But  I  have  often  advocated  causes  against 
which,  as  a  judge,  I  would  have  pronounced;  and  some- 
times have  been  obliged  to  make  myself  the  organ  of  the 
passions  and  feelings  of  others  in  a  way  that  it  would  not  be 
possible  for  me  to  do  hereafter,  and  yet  preserve  that  consis- 
tency of  character,  and  that  peace  of  mind,  at  which  it  is 
my  settled  purpose,  with  divine  help,  to  aim, 

"  On  what  to  determine,  I  am  utterly  at  a  loss.  1  wish 
to  consult  your  happiness  and  wishes,  and  the  welfare  of  our 
dear  children,  in  whatever  course  I  may  adopt.  But  I  think 
their  chance  of  respectability  and  happiness  will  not  be 
much  increased,  by  my  continuing  to  toil  in  a  dangerous 
profession  to  acquire  for  them  a  large  estate ;  nor  do  I 
believe,  that  with  a  continuance  of  unremitted  industry  on 
m.y  part — in  the  present  state  of  business  and  of  competition 
for  profits,  with  the  loss  of  a  great  proportion  of  my  share  in 
business  during  my  engagements  in  public  life,  and  with  the 
feelings  which  I  shall  carry  back  when  I  resume  it — ^if  I 
were  ever  so  desirous  of  accumulation,  I  could  count  upon 
success.  I  am  persuaded,  however,  that  no  duty  towards 
our  beloved  children  requires  me  to  give  them  more  than,  if 
they  survive  me,  will  be  their  portion  ;  and  that  I  shall  ren- 
der them  a  better  service  by  giving  them  a  good  education, 
and  endeavoring  to  instil  into  their  minds  early  principles  of 
piety,  than  if  I  could  heap  upon  them  the  riches  of  Golconda 
or  Peru. 

'*  These  are  the  unpleasant  views  presented  to  my  mind 
by  the  prospect  of  entering  again  upon  my  former  track  of 
business  and  social  intercourse.      But  in   abandoning  the 

Mem.  Milnor.  {) 


122  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

former,  and  in  some  degree  the  latter,  I  am  aware  that  dep- 
rivations not  very  pleasant  to  the  natural  feelings,  must  be 
submitted  to  ;  and  that  there  is  still  very  great  difficulty  in 
fixing  upon  some  other  occupation  by  way  of  substitute. 
Idleness  is  the  root  of  all  evil,  and  I  do  not  mean  to  encoun- 
ter its  dangers.  If,  therefore,  I  quit  my  present  business,  it 
wdll  be  to  engage  in  some  other.  What  that  shall  be,  is  a 
question  to  be  solved  before  an  abandonment  of  present  occu- 
pation takes  place.  A  small  farm  for  some  bodily  exercise, 
and  a  library  for  the  employment  of  the  mind,  together  with 
a  close  application  to  interests  of  much  more  importance  than 
all  the  perishing  concerns  of  this  world,  are  what  present 
themselves  to  my  mind  as  the  most  likely  means  for  insuring 
tranquillity  during  the  residue  of  our  stay  in  this  probationary 
part  of  our  existence,  and  a  title  to  happiness  when  called  to 
our  final  and  unchangeable  lot  in  the  world  to  come. 
"  Ever  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 


SECTION   III. 

"We  have  now  fully  reached  the  time  when  the  interest- 
ing correspondence  between  Mr.  Milnor  and  his  friend  Brad- 
ford commenced.  It  must  be  evident  to  the  careful  reader, 
that  ever  since  his  "  long,  solitary  walk,"  on  the  fine  winter 
morning  of  December  22,  which  he  began  with  repinings 
under  disappointment,  and  ended  with  enlarged  views  of 
God  and  of  himself,  the  style  of  his  letters  to  his  wife  has 
been  different  from  that  of  liis  previous  communications. 
He  has  talked  less  of  the  outward,  and  more  of  the  inward 
things  of  the  Christian  life.  His  main  themes  have  been, 
sin  and  the  Saviour,  the  merits  of  the  Cross  and  the  work 
of  the  Spirit,  a  growing  weariness  of  the  ways  of  the  world, 
and  a  growing  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  a  change  in  the 
business  of  his  futiire  profession.     At  the  time,  however, 


RELiaiOUS  CHANQE.  123 

when  he  wrote  his  first  letter  to  Mr.  Bradford,  although  he 
may  be  considered  as  having  become  "a  new  creature  in 
Christ,"  yet  his  rehgious  views  wanted  something  of  that 
clearness  and  fulness  which  were  desirable,  and  which  they 
finally  reached. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  publish  the  whole  correspond- 
ence with  Mr.  Bradford,  just  as  it  passed ;  but  this  would 
swell  too  largely  the  size  of  the  Memoir.  Although,  there- 
fore, Mr.  Bradford's  letters  abound  in  remarkably  clear  views 
of  the  new-birth  of  the  Spirit,  and  of  the  course  of  life  which 
the  new-born  Christian  is  required  to  pursue,  yet,  with  the 
exception  of  one  or  two  passages,  they  will  be  reluctantly 
omitted  ;  and  even  when  we  take  up  the  letters  of  Mr.  Mil- 
nor  himself,  only  the  most  important  parts  will  be  inserted. 

To  Thomas  Bradford,  Jr. 

"Washington,  22d  January,  1813. 

"  My  dear  Friend — Ever  since  my  return  to  this  place, 
I  have  contemplated  writing  you  a  long  letter,  but  have  been 
prevented  by  a  succession  of  engagements,  which  occupy 
much  of  my  time.  I  ought  not,  however,  m  candor  and  fair 
dealing,  to  deny  that  I  have  been  a  little  discouraged  from 
recommencing  a  correspondence  with  you,  by  the  abruptness 
with  which  that  of  last  year  terminated.  Yet,  I  neither 
doubt  your  friendship,  nor  believe  that  you  doubt  mine  ; 
and  I  feel  as  if  a  more  intimate  and  profitable  intercourse 
than  ever  were  about  to  take  place  between  us.  We  have, 
I  trust,  entered  on  a  course  in  which,  whatever  may  be  the 
diflerence  of  our  views  on  minor  points,  being  agreed  in  the 
grand  way-marks  of  our  journey,  and  designing,  by  God's 
help,  to  reach  the  same  destination,  we  may  travel  harmo- 
niously together,  and  lend  one  another  a  helping-hand,  in 
surmounting  the  impediments  which  we  may  expect  to  find 
in  our  way. 

"  My  best  resolutions  are  frustrated,  or  interfered  with, 
by  surrounding  temptations,  and  I  seem  to  experience  in- 


124  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

creased  occasion  for  the  penitent  acknowledgment  of  having 
renewedly  '  erred  and  strayed  from  God's  ways  Hke  a  lost 
sheep ;'  of  havmg  '  left  undone  those  things  which  I  ought 
to  have  done,  and  done  those  things  which  I  ought  not  to 
have  done.'  Or,  in  the  expressive  language  of  St.  Paul,  *  T 
know  that  in  me,  that  is,  in  my  flesh,  dwelleth  no  good 
thing ;  for  to  will  is  present  with  me,  hut  how  to  'perforin 
that  which  is  good,  I  find  not.  I  delight  in  the  law  of 
God,  after  the  inner  man;  hut  I  see  another  law  in  my 
memhers  warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing 
me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my  members. 
0  wretched  man  that  I  am  I  Who  shall  deliver  me  from 
the  body  of  this  death  ?'  I  embrace  cordially,  and  pray  the 
aids  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  do  it  effectually,  the  answer  of 
that  eminent  minister  of  God  :  '  Thanks  be  to  God,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.'  Let  us  look  to  Him,  as  '  the  au- 
thor and  finisher  of  our  faith  ;'  be  persuaded  that  *  other 
foundation  hath  no  man  laid;'  rely  upon  his  all-sufficient 
atonement ;  receive  him  as  our  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King ; 
and  depend  upon  the  sanctifying  influences  of  the  blessed 
Spirit  to  prepare  us  for  mauitaining  our  present  conflicts 
with  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  and  for  obtaining 
ultimately  a  place  among  the  saints  in  glory.  Since  my 
mind  has  become  more  seriously  impressed,  experience  has 
convinced  me,  that  when  deep  conviction  of  sin  has  seized 
upon  the  heart,  when  penitence  and  prayer  have  become  its 
daily  employment,  and  the  soul  is  panting  after  righteous- 
ness, worldly  engagements,  both  of  business  and  of  pleasure, 
slacken  and  impede  its  progress  in  grace,  and  hourly  suggest 
fearful  apprehensions  of  losing  all  that  has  been  gained.  0 
how  dreadful  is  the  thought,  that  when  called  by  God's 
Spirit  to  a  view  of  one's  lost,  undone  condition,  when  en- 
couraged to  lay  hold  of  the  hope  set  before  us  in  the  gospel, 
and  feeling  with  humility  and  thankfulness  some  advance- 
ment in  the  work  of  piety,  we  should  relapse  into  our  first 
estate.     Truly,  '  the  latter  end  of  such  is  worse  than  the 


RELIG-IOUS  CHANGE.  125 

beginning,'  God  preserve  you  and  me  from  such  an  event. 
His  power  alone  is  sufficient  for  the  purpose. 

"  After  a  long  profession  of  religion" — sacramental  com- 
munion in  the  church  is  not  here  intended — "  accompanied 
by  vain  attempts  to  accommodate  it  to  the  fashion  and  folly 
of  the  vi^orld,  it  has  pleased  God — in  the  midst  of  gayety 
and  pleasure,  and  without  that  pressure  of  calamity  which 
is  so  often  made  the  means  of  turning  the  thoughts  to  the 
only  sure  Refuge,  and  while,  too,  the  opportunity  of  public 
waiting  upon  him  iii  his  ordinances  was,  in  a  great  measure, 
denied — to  arrest  me  in  my  course,  convince  me  of  the  ex- 
ceeding sinfulness  of  sin,  arraign  me  at  the  bar  of  my  own 
conscience  as  a  heinous  partaker  in  it,  and  then,  in  mercy,  to 
open  to  my  view  the  way  of  escape,  provided  I  no  longer 
neglected  the  great  salvation. 

"  By  a  singular  coincidence  it  has  happened,  that  with- 
out a  mutual  knowledge  of  the  fact,  you  and  I  have  been 
similarly  engaged.  To  whom,  therefore,  with  more  propri- 
ety than  to  yourself  could  I  impart  my  feelings  ?  Let  me 
hear  from  you.  Disclose  fully  your  religious  views,  for  if 
will  be  done  to  a  friend.  Fellow-travellers  on  the  road  to 
Zion,  I  rejoice  to  wish  you  'God  speed'  on  your  journey, 
and  shall  not  cease  to  pray  for  strength  to  accompany  you, 
though  it  should  be — '  liaud  passibus  (Xquis ' — at  an  unequal 

pace.     Affectionately  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

To  James  Milnor,  Esq. 

"Philadelphia,  January  26,  1813. 
"My  dear  Friend — Never  did  I  read  a  letter  with  more 
delight  and  joy  than  yours,  received  yesterday.  I  had  been 
absent  from  the  city  for  ten  days,  and  just  returned  from  the 
gayeties  of  a  wedding  at  Dover,  with  a  mind  diseased  and 
corrupted  by  the  intercourse  into  which  I  had  been  obliged 
to  enter  with  a  gay  and  fashionable  world.  The  contents 
of  your  letter  warmed  my  soul,  and  enlivened  all  my  aflec- 


126  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

tions.  For,  my  dear  friend,  among  the  crosses  wliicli  I  fore- 
saw I  must  bear  in  my  Christian  course,  was  that  of  sepa- 
rating, in  a  great  degree,  from  you  and  many  others  whose 
pursuits  and  pleasures  were  different  from  those  which  I 
was  following.  The  goodness  of  God  in  awakening  your 
mind  to  a  sense  of  its  true  condition,  while  it  has  excited, 
and  should  continue  to  excite  in  you  a  holy  zeal  and  grati- 
tude, has  produced  no  less  emotion  in  my  own  mmd.  A 
dear  friend,  in  whose  society  I  have  ever  delighted,  and  with 
whom  I  have  so  often  controverted  points  of  religion,  when 
we  were  both  strangers  to  God,  has  been  taught  of  Him, 
and  is  restored  to  me  in  the  bonds  of  a  covenant,  which,  I 
trust,  will  never  be  broken.  How  delightful  is  that  friend- 
ship, whose  basis  is  religion,  and  whose  object  is  the  promo- 
tion of  our  eternal  welfare.  Thanks  be  to  God  for  restoring 
to  me  one  so  beloved, 

"  With  you,  I  am  every  day  constrained  to  bemoan  the 
little  progress  which  I  make  '  in  grace  and  the  knowledge  of 
my  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,'  and  almost  to  fear  that 
I  have  no  interest  in  his  atoning  sacrifice  ;  so  cold  and  life- 
less, so  hard  and  flinty  is  my  poor  wicked  heart.  Tliis  body 
of  sin  weighs  me  down  to  the  dust.  '  Take  from  me,  my 
God,  this  heart  of  stone,  and  give  me  a  heart  of  flesh.' 
Truly,  my  friend,  St.  Paul  was  never  more  correct  than  when 
he  said,  *  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God ;  for  it  is 
not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be.'  0 
how  precious  does  the  bleeding  Lamb  of  God  appear  to  a 
soul,  sinking  under  the  conviction  of  its  guilt  and  ill-desert ; 
and  how  all-attractive  and  endearing  are  the  promises  of  this 
blessed  Saviour  :  '  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest ;'  '  Come,  buy  wine  and 
milk,  without  money  and  without  price.'  "What,  nothing 
to  do  to  obtain  this  great  salvation  ?  Nothing.  Not  a  rag 
of  self-righteousness  will  be  accepted  here.  *  It  is  for  my 
name's  sake,'  saith  the  great  Jehovah,  'that  I  do  this  thing.' 
How  constantly  ought  we  to  pray,  '  For  thy  name's  sake. 


RELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  127 

0  Lord,  pardon  mine  iniquity,  for  it  is  great.'     '  Examine 
me,  0  Lord,  and  prove  me ;  try  my  reins  and  my  heart.' 

"  Persevere,  raiy  dear  friend,  in  beseeching  God  to  have 
mercy  on  you ;  fight  the  good  fight  of  faith  ;  put  on  the  ar- 
mor of  the  Christian  warrior,  for  we  have  to  contend  with 
most  wicked  and  powerful  enemies  ;  trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  he  will  give  you  victory  over  them  all. 

"  How  pleasant  will  be  our  future  correspondence.  Leav- 
ing a  jarring  world  and  its  concerns  to  those  who  love  them 
more,  we  will  tell  each  other  what  the  Lord  hath  done  for 
our  souls,  how  we  travel  along  the  Christian  path,  what  new 
beauties  strike  our  view,  what  snares  and  perils  we  have 
escaped,  what  trials  and  conflicts  we  have  endured,  and 
what  crosses  we  have  borne.  Thus  animating  and  coun- 
selling each  other,  we  shall  find  an  epistolary  intercourse 
more  interesting  and  instructive  than  ever.  How  different 
will  this  be  from  that  which  we  kept  up  for  a  part  of  the 
last  session.  Instead  of  the  affairs  of  this  world,  we  shall 
converse  about  a  world  higher  and  better  :  instead  of  '  Who 
shall  rise  to  honor  and  distinction  here  ?'  our  question  will 
be,  'How  shall  we  attain  to  that  unfading  honor,  in  the 
mansions  of  eternal  rest,  reserved  for  the  people  of  God  V 
But,  my  friend,  in  all  things  be  watchful,  guarding  yourself 
from  the  deceitfulness  of  your  own  heart ;  for  saith  our 
blessed  Lord,  '  Watch  and  pray,  lest  ye  enter  into  tempta- 
tion.' The  terms  of  discipleship  are  plainly  proposed  to  us 
by  Him.  '  If  any  man  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny 
himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  daily,  and  follow  me.'  May 
God  bless  and  preserve  you,  my  dear  friend ;  and  may  we, 
like  David  and  Jonathan  of  old,  be  united  in  a  sure  cove- 
nant, and  say,  that,  as  for  others,  they  may  do  as  seemeth 
meet  unto  them  ;  but,  in  the  language  of  Joshua,  '  as  for  us 
and  our  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord.' 

"  Write  to  me,  and  believe  me,  more  than  ever, 
''  Your  friend, 

"-T.  BRADFORD,  JR." 


123  MEMOIR  OF  I)Ji.  MILNOIl. 

To  this  letter  Mr.  Milnor  replied  in  the  following,  among 
other  passages  of  his  second  letter,  dated, 

"Washington,  29th  Jan.,  1813 

"  My  dear  Friend — Your  afiectionate  letter  of  the  26th 
has  afforded  me  much  satisfaction  on  every  account  but  one. 
I  fear  I  am  to  infer  from  your  kind  expressions,  that  you 
unduly  appreciate  my  progress  in  rehgion,  and  that  I  have 
myself  occasioned  the  mistake  by  using  language  in  reference 
to  the  state  of  my  mind,  calculated  to  give  you  an  idea  of 
its  subjection  to  the  influence  of  divine  grace  which  the  real 
fact  does  not  warrant.  If  I  have  done  so,  ascribe  it  to  any 
cause  rather  than  a  deliberate  intention  to  deceive  either  you 
or  myself :  a  greater  than  either,  I  know  I  cannot  deceive ; 
for  although  I  trust  I  may  say,  with  the  pious  Job,  *  I  have 
heard  of  thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear ;  but  now  mine  eye 
seeth  thee  ' — in  faith  and  mental  vision  is  my  meaning — yet 
the  glorious  view  does  but  excite  in  me  the  humbling  senti- 
ment with  which  he  followed  this  declaration, '  Wherefore,  I 
abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes.'  Truly,  my 
friend,  I  should  falsify  every  hour's  experience,  if  I  denied 
the  enmity  of  the  carnal  mind  against  God ;  the  ingratitude 
of  a  corrupted  heart  for  innumerable  external  and  internal 
benefactions ;  and  its  guilty  murmurings  at  every  parental 
chastisement  for  multiplied  transgressions.  The  reason  why 
we  do  not  discern  its  rebellion  against  the  Almighty,  and  its 
tyraimy  over  ourselves,  is  because  we  have  been  so  long 
willing  slaves  to  its  dominion,  and  have  so  often  aided  its 
struggles  against  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  we  love  its  corrup- 
tions and  defilements  better  than  all  the  graces  of  purity  and 
holiness.  This  I  have  deplorably  experienced  in  my  past 
life  ;  and  now  that  I  perceive  with  a  clearer  light  than  here- 
tofore, a  heavenly  index  pointing  to  the  right  road,  with  the 
emphatic  direction,  '  This  is  the  way  ;  walk  thou  in  it ;'  an 
*  evil  heart  of  unbeUef,'  still  inhabiting  this  miserable  bosom, 
would  dissuade  me  from  my  course  with  the  beguiling  sug- 
gestion, that  *  the  Avays  of  wisdom  are  not  ways  of  pleasant- 


RELIG-IOUS  CHANaE.  129 

ness,  nor  her  paths  peace.'  'Yes,'  suggests  this  rebelUous 
spirit,  '  you  are  entermg  on  a  rugged  and  impracticable  jour- 
ney ;  it  is  beset  with  briars  and  thorns  ;  few  of  those  whom 
you  most  love  will  be  your  companions,  and  all  from  whom 
you  separate  will  pronounce  you  a  fool,  a  hypocrite,  or  an 
enthusiast,  for  your  pains.  You  must  assume  new  habits 
and  manners,  and  on  many  topics,  new  opinions,  that  will 
be  the  ridicule  of  your  acquaintance,  and  will  unfit  you  for 
the  duties  of  your  station ;  and  after  all,  having  made  trial 
of  your  undertaking,  you  will  only  come  back  into  the  world 
with  its  scorn  and  derision  for  your  folly  and  fickle-minded- 
ness.'  Thus  is  it  that  the  arch-adversary — who  dared  pre- 
sumptuously, though  in  vain,  to  assail  the  sinless  purity  of 
our  Redeemer  at  his  entrance  upon  the  duties  of  his  blessed 
mission,  by  tempting  his  supposed  vanity,  and  love  of  power, 
and  cupidity  of  wealth,  with  an  oiler  of '  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  world  and  the  glory  of  them  ' — more  successfully  spreads 
his  snares  for  the  souls  of  weak,  irresolute,  and  guilty  men. 
Thus  has  he  heretofore  induced  you  and  me  to  stifle  convic- 
tions ;  permitted  us  in  some  general  way  to  acknowledge 
the  truths  of  religion,  and  join  in  its  public  duties ;  and 
allowed  us  to  avoid  open  profligacy  and  direct  opposition  to 
many  even  of  the  stricter  rules  of  life  observed  by  others ; 
while  he  has  prevented  oiir  following  the  good  example  of 
the  truly  pious,  and  made  us  content  ourselves  with  a  decent 
system  of  morality,  mixed  with  some  of  the  semblance  of 
religion  and  the  exercise  of  a  disposition  of  charity  and  good- 
will to  our  fellow-men  ;  and  then  has  assured  us  that  these 
would  carry  us  as  successfully  to  heaven  as  godly  sorrow  foi 
sin,  repentance,  faith  in  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of 
God,  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  newness  of  life 
produced  by  the  spirit  and  regulated  by  the  precepts  and  the 
example  of  Christ. 

"  As  to  myself,  it  pleases  God  at  times  to  obscure  my 
views,  and  to  allow  my  corrupt  heart  to  fear  the  difficulties 
which  I  have  mentioned ;  and  thus  am  I  threatened  with 

6* 


130  MEMOIR   OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

the  dangers  of  backsliding,  if  not  the  perils  of  apostasy  from 
the  faith  of  Christ.  My  religious  strength  is  very  weakness, 
yet  I  will  not  despair ;  because,  blessed  be  the  Author  and 
finisher  of  my  faith,  my  salvation  either  from  sin  here,  or 
from  eternal  death  hereafter,  depends  not  on  my  unassisted 
efforts.  My  help  is  laid  on  One  who  is  mighty  to  save,  and 
who  will  save,  to  the  uttermost,  all  that  come  to  God 
through  him. 

"  I  sometimes  think,  that  were  I  some  years  younger, 
and  yet  favored  with  my  present  views,  my  course  of  duty 
would  be  pretty  obvious.  But  the  want  of  capacity,  and  of 
religious  and  other  knowledge,  and  the  diminution  of  that 
aptitude  to  new  acquirements  which  belongs  to  the  youthful 
mind,  with  other  obstacles  that  need  not  be  mentioned,  banish 
every  hope  of  being  useful  in  the  profession  to  which  you  will 
easily  understand  me  as  intending  an  allusion." 

This  is  the  first  distinct  reference,  with  which  we  have 
met,  to  the  new  direction  of  his  thoughts  towards  the  work 
of  the  ministr}',  and  it  shows  how  little  qualified  he  then  was 
to  judge  of  what  God  was  designhig  for  him  in  the  future. 

"  Farewell,  my  friend,"  he  concludes ;  "  '  Cluench  not  the 
Spirit;'  *j)rove  all  things;  hold  fast  that  which  is  good; 
abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil ;  and  the  very  God  of 
peace  sanctify  you  wholly ;  and  I  pray  God  your  whole  spirit, 
and  soul,  and  body,  be  preserved  blameless  unto  the  coming 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.'  This  is  heavenly  advice,  not 
mine.  May  we  both  adopt  and  pursue  it  in  all  time  to 
come." 

"Jan.  31,  1813. — Thanks  to  my  heavenly  Father,  that 
he  has  been  graciously  pleased  in  some  measure  to  prepare 
me  for  waiting  upon  him,  on  this  his  holy  day,  in  that  way 
which  is  alone  acceptable,  'in  spirit  and  in  truth.'  I  say,  in 
&omc  measure  ;  but  0,  how  small  a  dispensation  of  divine 
grace  is  yet  my  portion  I  0  Lord,  '  take  not  the  word  of 
thy  truth  utterly  out  of  my  mouth ;  for  my  hope  is  in  thy 
judgments.'     My  desire  to  avoid  the  scene  of  political  dis- 


RELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  131 

cussion,  wliicli,  in  this  city,  is  everywhere,  save  at  church 
and  in  the  chamber,  induces  me  very  often  to  seek  a  retreat 
in  the  latter,  where,  I  thank  God,  I  may  undisturbedly 
*  commune  with  my  own  heart,  and  be  still.'  " 

He  closes  the  letter  in  which  the  foregoing  brief  passages 
occur,  with  a  Sabbath  evening's  "  song  of  ardent  praise ;" 
and  then,  as  if  feeling  a  slight  r(;turn  of  his  once  strong 
dread  and  distrust  of  all  high-wrought  feeling  in  religion, 
adds  in  a  postscript, 

"  Excuse  the  foregoing  transcript  of  my  feelings.  The 
full  heart  must  speak  out,  or  it  will  burst.  I  would  place  a 
wholesome  restraint  upon  any  tendency  of  my  religious  afiec- 
tions  towards  enthusiasm.  This  spirit  is  often  more  honest 
than  the  pharisaical  formality  of  mere  outside-professors  ; 
but  it  obscures  those  clear  perceptions  of  divine  truth  at 
which  we  ought  to  aim,  and  brings  disrepute  upon  religion. 
Let  the  Scriptures  be  our  only,  as  they  will  prove  themselves 
our  infallible  guide.  Let  us  never  submit  to  the  strange 
persuasion  that  the  affections  are  not  to  be  engaged — warm- 
ly, feelingly  engaged,  in  the  work  of  religion  ;  but  let  us 
avoid  the  evil  of  yielding  them  an  ascendency  over  the  word 
of  God.     '  To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony.'  " 

After  this  characteristic  caution  to  himself,  he  subjoins, 
"Farewell,  my  dear  friend.  God  is  teaching  me  to  pray 
aright.  I  am  a  stubborn  and  backward  scholar  ;  but  in  his 
good  tiraie,  he  will  enable  me,  as  I  hope  he  has  already  ena- 
bled you,  to  mount  boldly,  though  not  presumptuously,  that 
'  true  ladder,'  as  Lord  Bacon  expresses  it,  '  Avhich  he  has 
fixed  in  the  person  of  a  Mediator,  whereby  God  descends  to 
his  creatures,  and  his  creatures  ascend  to  God.'  " 

"Feb.  5,  1813. — Since  I  last  wrote  you  I  can  pretend 
to  but  little  progress  in  that  work,  the  root  of  which,  I  hum- 
bly trust,  is  laid  in  my  heart.  The  necessity  of  circum- 
stances, or  rather  the  seeming  necessity,  carried  me  yesterday 
to  an  entertainment  at  the  Russian  minister's,  from  which  I 
returned  in  the  evening  with  a  heart  less  prepared  for  com- 


132  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

munioii  with  itself,  or  with  its  God,  than  if  I  had  been 
drinking  at  the  fountain  of  his  blessed  word,  or  employed  in 
the  duty  of  private  meditation.  To-day,  your  worthy  broth- 
er, and  a  party  from  Philadelphia,  have  claimed  my  atten- 
tion, and  the  offices  of  friendship,  pleasing  as  they  are  to  the 
natural  disposition,  have  made  me  partaker  of  conviviality, 
on  which  by  any  austerity  on  my  part,  I  feared  to  throw  a 
damp  ;  but  which  the  retirement  of  this  chamber,  where  my 
best  affections  have  had  their  birth  and  nurture,  reminds  me 
must  be  abandoned,  or- 1  myself  shall  be  abandoned  by  the 
Spirit  ofthe  Most  High." 

After  quoting  some  sentiments  from  Lord  Bacon,  who 
seems  to  have  been  a  favorite  author  with  him,  he  adds, 

"  You  see  how  a  mixture  with  gay  society  disqualifies  me 
for  resorting  to  higher  authority.  I  am  more  and  more  con- 
vinced, in  respect  to  myself,  that  these  occasions  and  tempt- 
ations must  be  avoided  ;  and  that  the  limits  of  propriety 
assume  so  equivocal  a  character  to  the  mind,  and  may  be  so 
easily  exceeded  in  companionable  intercourse,  that  the  tyro 
in  religion  must  beware  how  he  exposes  himself  to  the  dan- 
ger of  losing,  by  his  own  folly  and  indiscretion,  all  that  he 
has  gained.  ^  May  the  time  soon  arrive  when  I  shall  be  less 
ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  better  practise  his  blessed 
precepts,  and  have  more  courage  and  success  in  subduing 
inveterate  habits,  and  in  devoting  myself,  as  a  consistent 
disciple  of  the  Cross,  to  the  promotion  of  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom." 

His  next  letter  contains  an  account  of  a  visit  to  Wash- 
ington of  a  young  Presbyterian  preacher,  the  Rev.  Mr.  (now 
Dr.)  Skinner,  who  brought  him  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
Mr.  Bradford,  and  whose  eloquent  and  faithful  preaching  at 
the  capital  left  a  deep  and  most  salutary  impression.  Mr. 
Milnor  thus  narrates  two  incidents  connected  with  this  visit. 

"Feb.  8,  1813. — An  amiable  friend  of  mine,"  appar- 
ently a  fellow-member  of  Congress,  "  who  would  have  been 
much  oflcnded  to  be  told  he  was  npt  a  believer,  was  frank 


RELiaiOUS  CHANOE.  133 

enough  to  acknowledge  to  me,  that  he  went  home  after 
morning  service,  retired  to  his  chamber,  and  wept  bitterly 
at  tjie  reflection,  that,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  this  young  strip- 
ling should  have  so  laid  open  his  deformities,  and  set  before 
him  truths  to  which  he  had  so  long  been  experimentally  a 
stranger.  A  conversation  held  with  him  to-day,  induces  me 
to  believe  that  an  abiding  impression  has  been  made  on  his 
mind. 

*'  On  Sunday  afternoon,  at  the  close  of  the  service,  a  lady, 
who  had  been  much  affected,  went  to  speak  to  Mr.  Skinner ; 
but  her  tears  choked  her  utterance,  and  she  withdrew." 

The  occasion  was  blessed  to  himself  likewise,  for  he  soon 
after  subjoins  : 

"  My  mind  becomes  more  stayed  upon  God.  The  reali- 
ties of  religion  begin  to  fasten  more  steadfastly  on  my  un- 
derstanding and  my  heart.  The  Holy  Spirit  graciously  as- 
sists my  infirmities  in  making  prayer  and  supplication  at  the 
throne  of  grace,  and  I  patiently  wait  for  an  answer  to  my 
petitions  in  God's  own  time,  confiding  in  the  unchangeable 
faithfulness  of  his  gracious  promises.  How  dare  we  distrust 
that  God  who  has  promised  to  be  '  rich  in  mercy  to  all  who 
call  upon  him  ?'  " 

"Feb.  11,  1813. — You  ask,  'Is  it  painful  and  injurious 
to  me  to  mingle  with  the  world,  and  to  partake  of  its  pleas- 
ures?' Yes.  Nothing  so  much  disqualifies  me  for  all  relig- 
ious duties  as  promiscuous  company,  especially  if  it  be  of 
such  a  cast  as  that  in  which  you  and  I  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  delight.  Whenever  a  seeming  necessity  has  drawn 
me  reluctantly  into  it,  I  have  returned  to  my  chamber  with 
heaviness  of  heart  and  the  keenest  stings  of  remorse  ;  so  true 
is  the  observation,  as  to  the  effect  of  such  associations,  which 
Solomon  applies  to  the  excessive  use  of  one  of  their  ordinary 
accompaniments  :  *  At  the  last,  it  biteth  like  a  serpent,  and 
stingeth  like  an  adder ;'  or,  as  he  elsewhere  says,  '  Even  in 
laughter  the  heart  is  sorrowlful,  and  the  end  of  that  mirth  is 
heaviness.'     For  any  real  delight  which  these  things  have 


134  MEMOIR  OF  DU.  MILNOR. 

given  me,  their  loss  is  as  nothing.  The  cross  hes  in  subject- 
ing one's  self  to  the  imputation  of  a  hundred  motives  for  a 
new  course  of  Hfe  different  from  the  true  ones,  and  in  offend- 
ing many  amiable  friends,  who  cannot,  unless  enlightened 
by  divine  grace,  discern  any  just  reason  for  an  alteration  in 
our  conduct. 

"  Hospitality  and  friendliness  towards  all  who  have  claims 
on  us,  may  be  lawfully  mdulged,  but  revelling  and  carousal 
must  be  avoided  ;  and,  for  myself,  I  add,  all  tlwse  places  of 
public  amusement  where  God  is  insulted  or  forgotten,  and 
religion  and  morals  are  set  at  ojien  defiance.  If  religious 
convictions  had  not  already  divorced  me  from  that  fascinating 
syren  the  theatre,  I  should  have  been  completely  satisfied  by 
the  conclusive  arguments  of  Dr.  Miller,  in  his  seraion  preach- 
ed on  the  occasion  of  the  conflagration  at  Richmond. . 

"  Many  thanks  for  your  clear,  experimental  views  of 
*  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.'  On  the  fundamentals  of  his 
blessed,  glorious  religion,  we  shall  never  disagree.  If  on  any 
obscure,  controverted  point  we  should  happen  to  differ,  we 
will  follow  the  conscientious  dictates  of  our  respective  minds, 
appealing  to  the  Searcher  of  hearts  for  the  honesty  of  our 
views,  and  exercising  charity  towards  each  other.  My  feel- 
ings must  indeed  be  changed  much  for  the  worse,  before  I 
can  refuse  Christian  charity  to  every  sincere  follower  of  the 
Lamb,  whatever  be  the  denomination  under  which  cliancc 
or  choice  may  have  thrown  him  ;  fully  believmg  that,  as  '  in 
every  nation,'  so  in  every  body  of  Christians,  '  he  that  fear- 
eth  God  and  worketh  righteousness,  is  accepted  of  him.'  " 

To  this  part  of  his  letter  is  appended  a  note,  beginning 
with  the  following  passage  :  "  C fiance — allow  me  to  recall 
this  hateful  expression.  How  careful  ought  we  to  be,  ever 
to  bear  in  mind  the  all-pervading  providence  of  God.  The 
language,  as  well  as  the  thoughts  of  the  days  of  our  carnal- 
ity, is  an  effective  means  in  the  hands  of  the  tempter,  of 
sullying  our  Christian  purity,  and  of  annoying  us  in  the 
warfare  in  wdiich  we  are  now  engaged." 


RELIGIOUS  CHANaE.  135 

"Feb.  12,  1813. — I  know  not  whether  I  am  to  consider 
my  residence  in  this  place,  with  all  its  privations,  as  an  evil. 
Perhaps  it  has  been  a  blessing  in  disguise.  It  engaged  me 
in  politics  till  my  heart  sickened  with  disgust  at  the  conten- 
tious scene  around  me.  It  involved  me  in  the  frippery,  and 
parade,  and  foolery  of  fashionable  life,  till  I  was  surfeited 
with  their  wretched  insipidity,  and  alarmed  at  the  dangers 
lurking  beneath  their  tasteless  sweets.  Depriving  me  of  the 
enjoyment  of  a  regular  attendance .  on  public  worship,  it 
taught  me  to  prize  that  blessing  more  highly  than  ever. 
Abstracted  from  my  professional  pursuits,  and  the  many 
engagements  which  the  cares  of  a  family  bring  with  them, 
and  finding  little  satisfaction  in  the  passing  scene,  the  solitude 
of  my  chamber  has  afforded  me  precious  opportunities  for 
meditation,  self-examination,  communion  with  my  own  heart, 
and  finally,  by  God's  grace,  intercourse  with  heaven.  This 
work  has  been  in  progress  for  many  years."  [It  evidently 
began  the  moment  when  examination  had  convinced  his 
"rational  understanding"  of  the  divine  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  had  driven  this  belief  of  the  head  into  what 
proved  its  long  conflict  with  the  self-righteousness  of  the 
heart :  a  conflict  in  which  nature  stoutly  withstood  grace, 
and  made  disputes  about  religion  and  an  exterior  semblance 
of  it  a  shield  against  inward  conviction,  and  an  opiate  to 
conscience  ;  till,  finally,  the  very  excess  of  this  world's 
noises — God  speaking  through  them — awoke  him  from  his 
dream  of  saving  himself,  and  drove  him  for  eternal  life  to 
the  only  immovable  rock,  Christ  Jesus.]  "  In  the  midst  of 
much  worldly  business,  political  anxiety,  and  pleasurable 
occupation,  the  '  still  small  voice '  has  unceasingly  whispered 
in  my  ear,  that  these  could  never  constitute  my  rest ;  that 
there  was  an  awful  eternity  before  me,  and  a  work  of  grace 
to  be  effected  in  my  heart,  if  I  wished  for  final  happiness. 
You  say,  in  one  of  your  letters,  that  you  and  I  used  to  dispute 
about  religious  doctrines,  when  we  were  wlioUy  ignorant  of 
the  power  of  religion  upon  our  souls.     The  observation  is 


136  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

most  true  ;  but  do  you  not  believe  that  God's  Spirit  was 
then  at  work  upon  us,  and  that,  though  the  obduracy  of  our 
hearts  would  not  then  yield  to  his  requisitions,  but  we  dar- 
ingly sent  him  away  till  a  more  convenient  season,  yet  he 
has  been  pleased,  in  matchless  goodness,  still  to  strive  with 
us  to  the  present  day  ?  Such  is  my  persuasion ;  and  the 
desire  of  my  soul  now  is,  to  ascribe  to  him  praises  too  exalted 
for  my  polluted  lips  to  express,  for  his  long-suflering  mercy 
and  goodness  ;  and  fervently  and  constantly  do  I  implore  that 
I  may  be  preserved,  by  a  power  superior  to  my  own,  from 
all  manner  of  sin  and  wickedness,  and  be,  one  day,  presented 
blameless  by  my  dear  Redeemer  before  the  throne  oi"  his 
Father." 

Alluding  soon  after  to  Christ's  "  gracious  promise  of  mak- 
ing us  partakers  of  '  the  kingdom  prepared  for  us  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,'  "  and  to  the  assurance  that  •"  so 
shall  we  ever  be  with  the  Lord,"  he  breaks  forth  in  the  fol- 
lowing strain : 

"  0  transporting,  rapturous  contemplation  I  Inspired  by 
Buch  hopes,  founded  on  tlie  unchangeable  faithfulness  of  the 
God  of  truth,  vain  pomp  and  glory  of  the  world,  we  hate 
you.  Honor,  fame,  riches,  become  empty  sounds ;  and  our 
whole  happiness  consists  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  noble  pur- 
pose which  you  have  intimated,  of  knowing  '  only  Christ 
Jesus  and  him  crucified.'  " 

He  proceeds  to  advise  the  preservation  of  their  letters,  in 
order  that,  if  their  hearts  should  ever  grow  cold,  and  lose 
the  sweet  sense  which  they  then  enjoyed,  of  "  heavenly  mo- 
ments, unseen  by  any  but  their  Father,"  a  recurrence  to 
what  they  had  once  written  might  be  blessed  to  the  rekin- 
dling of  their  fires,  and  the  reviving  of  their  unearthly  joys. 
This  again  put  in  movement  the  balance-wheel  of  his  cau- 
tion, and  therefore  he  adds, 

"  But  let  us  avoid  enthusiastic  delusions,  and  test  all  our 
emotions  by  the  written  word  of  God.  Let  our  ecstasies,  if 
haply  God  inspire  us  with  some  portion  of  the  spirit  that 


EELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  137 

animated  them,  be  such  as  were  felt  by  David,  and  Job, 
and  regenerated  Paul,  Then  we  need  not  fear  that  our 
aflections  will  run  into  enthusiasm  and  rant.  At  least, 
though  a  gainsaying,  ignorant  woiRd  might  pronounce  it  such, 
yet  such  will  not  be  the  judgment  of  the  redeemed  of  God. 
They  have  felt  the  transports  of  a  soul  emancipated  from  the 
slavery  of  sin,  and  favored,  in  mental  vision,  with  a  glimpse 
of  the  glories  of  the  heavenly  world.  0  my  friend,  may  your 
heart  be  as  light  as  mine  is  to-day.  Last  night  was  a  happy 
night.  Dare  I  be  so  presumptuous  as  to  say,  that  God  was 
present  with  me  in  my  ardent  supplications,  and  vouchsafed 
me  an  answer  of  peace  ?  Knowing,  as  I  do,  my  ignorance 
and  blindness,  I  could  not,  of  myself,  have  so  poured  out  my 
soul  unto  him.  Thanks  be  to  his  adorable  name,  the  Spirit 
gave  me  utterance,  and  I  feel  a  humble  hope  that  I  have 
not  wrestled  for  naught." 

The  farther  we  advance  in  these  transcripts,  the  more 
are  we  struck  with  what  must  have  been  the  uncommon 
depth  and  strength  of  Mr.  Milnor's  early  antipathy  to  Cal- 
vinism. Even  with  those  who  allow  that  his  objections 
against  that  system  were  just,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
his  antipathy  was  so  excessively  sensitive  as  to  render  him, 
for  a  long  period,  all  but  incapable  of  the  true  and  full  com- 
forts of  a  Christian  hope.  For  no  sooner  was  he  brought  to 
something  lilt e  the  dawnings  of  that  hope,  and  to  an  expres- 
sion of  the  holy  joys  to  which  it  naturally  gives  birth,  than 
he  was  seized  with  an  uncomfortable  fear,  lest  his  friend 
should  understand  him  as  admitting  the  doctrine  of  "  assur- 
ance,'' or  as  professing  to  have  become  one  of  "the  elect." 
Hence,  immediately  after  writing  the  letter  from  which  the 
last  extracts  are  taken,  he  sent  forward  another  to  set  him- 
self right  on  this  point. 

"Feb.  13, 1813. — I  did  not  intend  so  soon  to  trouble  you 
with  another  letter ;  but  I  fear  lest,  in  the  warmth  of  my 
feelings  when  I  last  wrote,  I  have  expressed  myself  pre- 
sumptuously and  unadvisedly.     I  would  by  no  means  '  lay 


138  MEMOIE,  OF  DR.  IIILNOR. 

the  flattering  unction  to  my  soul,'  that  my  spiritual  warfare 
is  accomplished.  God  forbid  that  I  should  take  up  a  false 
rest,  and  cry,  *  Peace,  peace,  when  there  is  no  peace.' 
There  is  no  danger  so  greSt,  in  my  eyes,  as  a  false  security 
in  present  attainments.  It  stops  the  progress  of  piety  in  the 
heart ;  shuts  out  those  affusions  of  divine  grace,  which  would 
continue  to  be  dispensed,  were  the  mind  kept  in  a  meek  and 
humble  state  ;  and  is,  I  believe,  not  infrequently  a  road 
which  imperceptibly  carries  an  awakened  sinner  back  to  the 
world,  and  makes  his  latter  end  worse  than  the  beginning." 

These  thoughts  are  just ;  but  what  was  there  in  his 
previous  letter  to  justify  the  "  fear  "  which  prompted  them? 
That  "  God  was  present  with  him,"  and  heard  his  prayer 
with  "an  answer  of  peace;"  that  "the  Spirit  gave  him 
utterance,"  and  filled  him  with  the  "  humble  hope  that  he 
had  not  wrestled  in  vain  ;"  and  that  the  night  should  have 
been  made  "  happy  "  amid  the  refreshings  thus  kindly  vouch- 
safed him ;  were  surely  no  reasons  why  he  should  distress 
himself  with  the  fear  that  he  had  "  taken  up  a  false  rest." 
Nor,  it  is  presumed,  would  he  have  felt  this  lear,  had  he 
not  once  filled  his  mind  so  crowdedly  with  the  theory  that 
all  strong  hope  borders  somewhere  on  presumption ;  and 
that  enthusiasm,  though  often  "  honest,"  is  yet,  almost  nec- 
essarily, mischievous.  From  some  passages  in  his  next  let- 
ter, he  seems  to  have  been  already  thrown  far  back  into 
darkness  and  discomfort. 

"Feb.  17,  1813. — Except  when  I  seek  the  privacy  of 
my  chamber,  I  am  in  the  midst  of  a  continued  whirl  of  poli- 
tics and  fashion  ;  and  after  subjecting  myself  to  much  cen- 
sure for  the  languid  interest  which  I  take  both  in  the  one 
and  in  the  other,  I  find  my  own  conscience,  in  my  closet,  up- 
braiding me  with  mixing  too  much  in  their  contaminations. 
With  respect  to  politics,  my  heart  loathes  their  corrupting 
and  uncharitable  dissonances;  and  as  for  the  parade  of 
drawing-rooms,  it  can  afibrd  little  pleasure  to  a  mind  bowed 
down  under  a  conviction  of  sin,  and  humbly  seeking  the 


EELiaiOUS  CHANGE  .  139 

regenerating  and  sanctifying  influences  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
Solitude  and  retirement,  during  some  part  of  each  day,  can 
on  no  account  be  dispensed  with.  If  secular  occupations 
deprive  us  of  them  during  the  hours  usually  allotted  to  the 
world,  let  us  abridge  the  unnecessary  quantum,  of  sleep  in 
which  our  sluggish  natures  too  often  invite  us  to  indulge. 
My  religious  impressions  have  induced  me  to  consider  this 
useless  waste  of  time  as  a  sin  to  be  abandoned  ;  and  I  find 
a  late  retirement  to  the  pillow,  and  an  earlier  desertion  of  it, 
by  no  means  injurious  to  health. 

"  I  am  but  at  the  threshold  of  this  great  undertaking  of 
'  working  out  my  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling.'  My 
course  is  much  less  successful  than  you  suppose.  If  '  the 
Day-spring  from  on  high '  seem  now  and  then  to  shine  into 
my  corrupt  and  darkened  mind,  its  rays  are  ever  and  anon 
obscured  by  more  than  midnight  gloom.  The  very  '  black- 
ness  of  darkness '  appears  sometimes  to  blot  out  all  my  hopes, 
and  my  only  solace  is  the  still  continued  promises  of  the 
gospel,  which  the  combined  eflbrts  of  the  world,  the  flesh, 
and  the  devil,  will  never,  I  trust,  be  able  to  defeat." 

He  had  recently  attended,  in  Alexandria,  the  preaching 
of  a  charity  sermon  by  the  Hev.  Mr.  Wihner,  in  the  Meth- 
odist church.     Of  this  he  remarks, 

"  Judge  Washington  since  observed  to  me — not  with  a 
view  to  censure,  for  he  afterwards  highly  applauded  both 
the  preacher  and  the  sermon — that  he  had  seen  me  in  Alex- 
andria '  listening  to  a  Presbyterian  sermon  from  an  -Ej9zs- 
(jajpal  minister  in  a  Methodist  meeting-house.'  0  that  all 
Christians  agreeing  in  the  fundamentals  of  religion,  would 
feel  that  glowing  love  towards  one  another,  enjoined  by 
that  commandment  of  our  Lord,  which  he  does  not  hesitate 
to  assimilate  in  dignity  and  importance  to  the  first  and 
greatest." 

"Feb.  18,  1813. — What  a  precious  privilege  is  it  to 
such  worms  of  the  dust  as  we,  to  have  such  a  door  of  access 
opened  to  us  into  the  holiest  I     My  heart  burns  with  rap- 


140  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

turous  gratitude  and  praise  at  this  wonderful  condescension 
in  that  infinitely  exalted  Being  of  beings,  who  dwells  in  light 
inaccessible  and  full  of  glory,  and  before  whom  even  angels 
veil  their  faces." 

'*  You  see  I  keep  on  with  my  letters,  destitute  as  they 
are  of  novelty,  and,  except  to  minds  exercised  as  ours  are,  of 
interest  too.  Do  not  criticise  their  language,  or  their  method ; 
for  I  attend  to  neither.  Such  as  it  is,  you  have  my  heart 
laid  open  to  your  view,  with  all  its  obliquities  and  alterna- 
tions :  now  tossed  on  an  ocean  of  fears  and  doubts  almost  at 
the  will  of  the  tempter  ;  and  now,  with  the  impetus  from 
that  heavenly  Wind  which  '  bloweth  where  it  listeth,'  and 
under  the  pilotage  of  that  unerring  guide,  the  revelation  of 
God,  gently  steering  towards  '  the  haven  where  it  would  be.'" 

A  large  part  of  his  next  letter,  which  is  very  long,  is 
occupied  on  a  theme  to  which  he  often  recurs — the  difficul- 
ties thrown  in  the  way  of  his  religious  progress  by  his  pro- 
fessional pursuits,  and  his  former  entanglements  amid  the 
pleasures  of  the  world.  After  dweUing  on  the  subject  at 
length,  he  proceeds,  under  date  of 

"Feb.  20,  1813. — Accept,  my  friend,  these  Saturday 
night  effusions.  They  come  from  a  heart  more  and  more 
convinced  of  its  innate  and  obstinate  depravity,  yet  excited 
by  divine  grace  to  pant  after  that  '  laver  of  regeneration' 
spoken  of  by  the  pious  Cyprian  ;  and  though  moving  with  a 
faltering  and  unsteady  pace  in  the  appointed  way,  yet  having 
no  dependence  on  itself,  but  looking  towards  a  bleeding  Sav- 
iour as  its  only  hope  and  stay,  and  consoling  itself  with  an 
assurance,  that  what  it  could  never  have  accomplished  for 
itself,  has  been  freely  done  by  an  adorable  act  of  unmerited 
mercy  on  the  part  of  the  Son  of  God.  0  amazing  conde- 
scension I  Love  unparalleled  !  Well  might  the  apostle  so 
feelingly  declare,  '  Scarcely  for  a  righteous  man  will  one  die  ; 
yet  peradventure  for  a  good  man  some  would  even  dare  to 
die  :  but  God  commendeth  liis  love  to  us,  in  that  while  we 
were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  tcs'  " 


RELIGIOUS  CHANaE.  141 

Alluding  to  the  danger  of  "  expecting,  too  soon,  conclu- 
sive evidence  of  God's  favor,"  in  what  he  calls,  though  virith- 
out  theological  accuracy,  "  the  complete  regeneration  of  our 
hearts" — language  which  seems  to  confound  our  original 
new-birth  of  the  Spirit  with  final,  perfect  sanctiiication — he 
proceeds  : 

"  His  own  time  is  the  best  time.  Let  us  beware  of  the 
suggestions  of  the  tempter,  who  would  have  us  outrun  the 
openmgs  of  divine  light  upon  our  souls,  and  upbraid  the 
Almighty  with  the  tardiness  of  his  operations.  Hearts,  so 
lately  at  enmity  with  God,  and  even  now  constantly  prone 
to  forget  that  *  his  ways  are  not  our  ways,  nor  his  thoughts 
our  thoughts,'  should  be  bowed  down  in  humility,  and  pa- 
tiently wait  for  God  to  be  further  gracious  to  us,  by  giving  us 
a  sensible  assurance  of  our  being  wholly  his.  If  this  be 
withheld,  a  scriptural  caution  should  silence  every  murmur  : 
*  Who  art  thou,  0  man,  that  repliest  against  God  ?'  'He 
that  reproveth  God,  let  him  answer  it.'  " 

After  he  began  this  letter,  he  received  one  from  his  friend, 
mourning  under  an  unusual  darkness,  which  had  come  over 
his  soul.  Among  other  comforting  suggestions,  therefore,  he 
oilers  the  following  in  a  postscript : 

"  Feb.  21,  1813. — It  is  good  for  us,  my  friend,  and  an 
evidence  of  God's  love,  that  he  chastens  us,  and  does  not  per- 
mit us  to  relinquish  our  warfare  by  a  false  security  of  its 
having  been  already  accomplished.  Talk  not  of  '  delusion.' 
It  is  the  suggestion  of  the  Evil  One  to  shake  your  faith  in  the 
Redeemer.  The  Holy  Spirit  has  begun  a  work,  which  he 
will  assuredly  accomplish,  if  you  and  I  do  not  wilfully  resist 
his  strivings.  What  though  our  prayers  are  weak  and  lan- 
guid ?  We  have  a  prevailing  '  Advocate  with  the  Father — 
Jesus  Christ  the  righteous ;  and  he  is  the  propitiation  for 
our  sins.'  Into  his  hands  let  us  resign  our  cause ;  let  his 
blood  and  merits  plead  for  us ;  and  let  us  not  dare  to  doubt 
but  his  intercession  will  procure  for  us  a  full  discharge  of  all 
our  sins,  and  a  renewal  of  our  hearts  unto  holiness  and  new- 


142  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

ness  of  life.  If  our  desires  and  prayers  have  ever  wandered 
from  the  ground  on  which  they  must  rest  to  be  prevalent 
with  God,  let  us  apply  to  ourselves  the  Redeemer's  rebuke, 
obey  his  divine  injunction,  and  rely,  yes,  boldly  and  confi- 
dently rely  on  his  faithfulness  to  the  annexed  promise  : 
'  Hitherto  have  ye  asked  nothing  in  my  name.  Ask,  that  ye 
may  receive,  and  that  your  joy  may  be  full.'  '  If  ye  abide 
in  me,  and  my  word  abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will, 
and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you.'  The  Psalmist,  too,  assures 
us  that  '  God  forgetteth  not  the  cry  of  the  humble  :'  and 
again,  '  This  poor  man  cried ;  the  Lord  heard,  and  delivered 
him  out  of  all  his  distresses.' 

"  My  confidence  in  the  Lord  is  strong  this  morning :  I 
fervently  beseech  him  to  make  yours  so." 

He  was  learning  to  "  comfort  one  who  was  in  trouble, 
by  the  comfort  wherewith  he  himself  was  comforted  of 
God  ;"  and  so  experienced  the  truth  of  the  divine  assurance, 
"  He  that  watereth"  others,  "  shall  be  watered  also  himself." 

"Feb.  25,  1813. — I  have  need  of  an  apology  for  the 
length  of  my  last  letter,  rather  than  so  soon  to  trouble  you 
with  another  ;  but  I  hope  it  is  one  evidence  of  my  continued 
love  to  the  blessed  Saviour,  that  I  delight  to  hold  converse 
with  one  of  his  acknowledged  disciples,  and  to  be  employed 
in  so  often  speaking  forth  the  praises  of  his  holy  name.  If 
there  be  one  sentiment  at  this  time  predominant  in  my  mind, 
it  is  that  of  gratitude  for  his  long-sufiering  goodness  and 
merciful  loving-kindness  to  sinners,  especially  to  me,  who  am 
the  chief  of  sinners.  He  has  been  pleased  to  call  me  out  of 
darkness  nito  some  degree  of  his  marvellous  light ;  and  thanks 
be  to  the  adorable  faithfulness  of  his  character,  no  doubt 
dares  intrude  into  my  mind  of  his  perfectly  fulfilhng  towards 
me  every  promise  of  his  gracious  word  to  penitent  offenders. 
My  prospects  are,  it  is  true,  sometimes  most  lamentably 
darkened.  Since  I  last  wrote  to  you,  I  have,  at  times,  been 
greatly  discouraged.  My  devotional  exercises  have  more 
tlian  once  been  destitute  of  the  life  and  power  of  religion, 


RELiaiOUS  CHANG-E.  "  143 

and.  of  course,  have  been  followed  by  none  of  the  cheering 
consolations,  expected  on  the  ground  of  a  gospel  assurance, 
from  communion  with  heaven.  I  accept  these  evidences  of 
God's  displeasure  with  humility,  as  chastenings  due  my 
transgressions  ;  and  pray  afresh  that  they  may  be  efficacious 
in  bringing  down  every  vain  imagination,  and  in  teaching 
me  to  rate  still  lower  every  performance  of  my  own — to  for- 
sake, more  and  more,  evil  ways  and  evil  thoughts,  and  to 
rely  wholly  on  the  grace  of  God  for  ability  to  do  so,  as  well 
as  to  offer  up  acceptable  sacrifices  of  praise  and  thanksgiv- 
ings for  his  numerous  mercies,  and  humble  supplications  for 
a  continuance  of  his  unmerited  favor.  The  world,  the  world, 
my  friend,  is  the  great  obstacle.  We  must  take  a  firm  stand, 
and  tread  it  under  our  feet." 

"  I  have  received  a  most  pleasing  letter  from  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Kemper,  written  in  the  true  spirit  of  a  gospel  minister. 
No  man  more  earnestly  desires  to  see  the  church  rise  out  of 
the  cold  and  lifeless  state  in  which  she  now  lies,  or  more 
fervently  rejoices  at  the  prospect  of  these  days  of  coldness 
fleeing  away.  *  My  heart,'  says  he, '  is  indeed  cheered  at 
the  prospect ;  my  spirits  revive.  When  the  hands  of  those 
who  are  appointed  to  minister  in  holy  things  are  upheld  by 
their  lay  brethren,  victory  in  the  Redeemer's  cause  is  certain. 
I  anticipate  the  time  when  we  shall  take  sweet  counsel 
together,  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  this  best  of  causes. 
Nor  will  we  be  long  alone.  Many  have  become  sensible  of 
the  vast  importance  of  their  immortal  souls,  who,  if  they 
continue  seeking,  will  soon  glory  in  the  Cross  of  Christ.' 

"  I  will  show  you  the  whole  of  this  letter  when  I  see  you, 
because  I  am  persuaded  you  view  the  church  as  I  do  :  not 
as  confined  to  any  sect  bearing  the  Christian  name,  but  as 
embracing,  in  its  wide-spread  arms,  the  redeemed  of  God 
through  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  whatever  branch 
of  the  great  family  Providence  may  have  cast  their  lot. 
Gospel  charity,  like  gospel  faith,  working  by  love  upon  the 
heart,  breaks  down  that  unhappy  wall  of  separation,  which 


144  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

too  much  divides  brethren  of  the  same  household ;  who, 
however  they  may  difier  about  forms  of  worship  and  of  gov- 
ernment, or  even  on  some  controverted  doctrines,  unite  in 
cordially  embracing  the  great  fundamental  and  peculiar  doc- 
tnnes  of  our  holy  religion.  I  thank  God  for  favoring  me 
with  an  expansion  of  heart  towards  all  the  member^  of  the 
mystical  body  of  Christ,  to  which  I  desire  to  be  united  as  one 
of  the  humblest  and  the  least." 

Perhaps  we  have  met  with  no  evidence  of  his  own  adop- 
tion into  the  true  family  of  Christ  more  convincing  than  that 
contained  in  this  last  passage  :  the  expansion  of  his  heart's 
love  to  the  limit  of  embracing  all  who  are  in  Christ  by  faith. 
"We  knoiu  that  we  have  passed  from  death  unto  life,  be- 
cause we  love  THE  BRETHREN,"  the  entire  Christian  broth- 
erhood. 

By  this  time  he  had  received  Mr.  Bradford's  reply  to  his 
long  letter  of  consolation,  dated,  February  20,  21,  and  22. 
The  following  passage  will  show  that  his  offered  comforts 
had  not  proved  like  waters  poured  on  the  desert,  which  can- 
not be  gathered  up  again. 

"Feb.  26,  1813. — Independently  of  the  happiness  which 
it  gives  me  at  all  times  to  hear  from  you,  I  have,  in  this 
instance,  a  special  happiness,  from  the  assurance  that  you 
have  been  favored  with  those  consolations  which  were  denied 
you  at  the  time  of  writmg  your  previous  letter.  I  am  indeed 
rejoiced,  if,  under  God,  the  counsel  of  one  who  so  much  needs 
it  as  I  do,  has  been  of  any  service  in  this  good  work ;  and 
yet  I  would  not  claim  the  smallest  portion  of  merit,  for  I  am 
a  debtor  for  all  things  myself  to  the  inexhaustible  treasury 
of  the  blessed  word  of  God.  I  trust  the  time  will  arrive, 
when,  instead  of  the  bufletings  which  the  noviciate  in  religion 
experiences,  we  shall  be  raised  above  them  ;  and  although 
we  may  have  to  '  call  to  remembrance  the  former  days,  in 
which,  after  we  were'  partially  '  illuminated,  we  endured  a 
great  fight  of  afflictions,'  we  shall  yet  have  the  full  assur- 
ance in  our  hearts,  that '  there  remaineth  a  rest  to  the  people 


EELiaiOUS  CHANGE.  145 

of  God,'  and  that  we  are  of  the  happy  number  of  those  who 
are  entitled  to  claim  it." 

In  the  letter  which  Mr.  Milnor  is  here  answering,  his 
friend,  having  been  comforted,  found  his  heart  courageous 
and  his  tongue  loosed ;  so  that,  in  adverting  to  the  best 
means  of  counteracting  the  evil  tendencies  of  legal  practice 
and  other  necessary  intercourse  with  a  wicked  world,  he  was 
led  to  make  the  following  quotation  from  Watts. 

"As  to  our  duty  on  such  occasions,  I  have  been  struck 
with  these  stanzas  as  peculiarly  apt. 

"  'Whene'er  constrained  a  while  to  stay 

With  men  of  life  profane, 
I'll  set  a  double  guard  that  day, 

Nor  let  my  talk  be  vain. 
I'll  scarce  allow  my  lips  to  speak 

The  pious  thoughts  I  feel, 
Lest  scoffers  should  occasion  take 

To  mock  my  holy  zeal. 
Yet,  if  some  proper  hour  appear, 

I'll  not  be  overawed, 
But  let  the  scoffing  sinner  hear 

That  we  can  speak  for  God.'  " 

In  his  remarks  on  this  quotation,  Mr.  Milnor  lets  us  look 
into  one  of  the  constitutional  peculiarities,  perhaps  we  may 
say  faults  of  his  mind — a  peculiarity,  indeed,  in  which  he  has 
many  followers  :  we  refer  to  his  great  caution,  tending  to 
reserve,  in  making  religion  the  subject  of  direct  personal 
appeal  to  sinners.  Some  talk  to  these  too  much,  because 
they  talk  indiscreetly ;  others  talk  too  little,  because,  when 
they  do  open  their  mouth,  it  speaketh  right  things.  The 
former  need  a  bridle  on  their  tongues  ;  the  latter  should  pray 
against  being  tonguetied.     But  to  the  remarks. 

"  I  concur  with  you  in  your  views  of  the  danger  not  only 
of  business  pursued,  and  of  pleasure  indulged  as  heretofore, 
but  also  of  the  vain  and  trifling  intercourse  to  which  we 
must  every  day  be  unavoidably  subjected" — [supposing  the 
continuance  of  their  legal  practice.]     "  Your  poet's  advice  is 

Mem.  Milnor.  7 


146  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

excellent,  but  a  man  must  be  well  grounded  in  religion  to 
make  it  safe  for  liim,  in  general,  to  introduce  topics  connected 
with  it  into  ordinary  conversation.  There  are  undoubtedly 
times  when  it  may  be  expedient  and  profitable  to  do  so ;  but 
commonly  so  sacred  a  subject  should  be  reserved  for  the  pri- 
vate intercourse  of  kindred  minds,  shut  out  from  a  giddy  and 
thoughtless  world,  to  commune  with  each  other  on  God's 
dealings  with  their  souls,  and  to  build  each  other  up  in 
their  most  holy  faith.  This,  I  trust,  will  often  be  our  sweet 
employ." 

'•  Feb.  28,  1813. — '  The  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  nor  the 
battle  to  the  strong.'  Thou,  Lord,  art  the  only  giver  of 
victory,  and  vain  are  the  cflbrts  of  men  who  rely  upon  their 
own  strength,  and  call  not  upon  thee  for  aid.  0  be  pleased 
to  teach  us  every  day  our  entire  dependence  upon  thee. 
Give  us  true  repentance,  saving  faith,  wiUing  obedience, 
enlarged  love,  perfect  humility  ;  so  that,  having  exercised  all 
the  graces  M'itli  which  thy  Holy  Spirit  may  endow  us,  we 
may  still  avow  ourselves  '  unprofitable  servants,'  and  thank- 
fully acknowledge  that  it  is  of  thy  free  mercy  only  we  are 
saved : — 

"  Such  have  been  the  aspirations  of  my  heart  this  day, 
both  in  the  house  of  God  and  on  my  knees  in  this  chamber. 
The  gratitude  which  I  feel  towards  this  gracious  Giver  of 
every  good  and  perfect  gift,  for  his  infinite  condescension  in 
invituig  us  to  these  approaches  to  his  throne,  burns  at  this 
moment  in  my  bosom  with  an  ardor  not  to  be  described. 
Let  holy  David  supply  the  song  of  thankful  praise.  '  I  will 
praise  thee,  0  Lord  ;  even  thy  truth,  0  my  God.  Unto  thee 
will  I  sing  upon  the  harp,  0  thou  Holy  One  of  Israel.  My 
lips  shall  greatly  rejoice  when  I  sing  unto  thee,  and  my  soul 
whi.:h  thou  hast  redeemed.  I  will  hope-  continually,  and 
will  yet  praise  thee  more  and  more.  My  mouth  shall  show 
forth  th]i  righteousness,  and  thy  salvation  all  the  day.  I 
will  go  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord  God  ;  I  ^vill  make  men- 
tion of  THY  righteousness,  even  of  jhine  only.' 


RELiaiOUS  CHANQE.  147 

"  How  greatly  am  I  astonished  when  I  look  back  at  my 
former  misconceptions  of  religious  truth.     I  refer  not  merely 
to  its  practical  influence  on  the  life  and  conversation,  but  to 
a  theoretical  view  of  it  as  a  system.     Those  doctrines  of  the 
gospel,  on  which,  if  I  know  my  own  feelings  noiv,  I  consider 
all  my  hopes  of  eternal  happiness  as  resting,  were,  to  my 
understanding,  so  repulsive,  that  my  constant  effort  was,  not 
daring  utterly  to  reject  them,  to  qualify  them  so  as  to  suit 
my  own  dark,  limited,  and  perverted  views.     Forgetting  that 
the  great  Supreme  '  will  never  give  his  glory  to  another,'  my 
endeavor  was,  to  make  poor,  finite,  feeble,  and  depraved 
man,  the  efficient  cause  of  his  own  salvation ;  in  this  delu- 
sion losing  sight,  in  a  very  great  degree,  of  the  glorious  and 
complete  atonement  of  Christ,  and  evading  the  agency  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  appropriating  its  benefits  to  the  soul  of  the 
believer.     Then  did  I  employ  myself  in  hewing  out  broken 
cisterns,  and  in  amusing  myself  with  many  inventions  calcu- 
lated to  strip  the  blessed  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  of 
all  that  I  now  see  in  it  as  most  estimable  and  important. 
That  '  it  is  not  in  man  that  walketh  to  direct  his  steps,'  but 
that  his  deliverance  from  the  thraldom  of  sin,  and  his  hopes 
of  everlasting  happiness,  rest  wholly  upon  the  offering  made 
by  '  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world,'  and  upon  the  regenerating,  converting,  and  sanctify- 
ing influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  heart,  are  now  the 
pillars  which  support  the  whole  fabric  of  my  religious  faith. 
Without  these  fundamental  doctrines,  the  word  of  God  degen- 
erates into  a  mere  system  of  ethics  ;  and  the  only  surprising 
thing  is,  that  such  a  mission  as  that  of  our  Saviour's,  his 
sufferings,  and  ignominious  death,  should  have  seemed  neces- 
sary for  so  trifling  an  effect  as  that  ascribed  to  them  by  those 
who  thus  depress  His  glorious  merits,  sacrilegiously,  shall  1 
say,  to  exalt  their  oivn.     Such,  once,  were  you  and  L     Such 
was  the  burden  of  our  unprofitable,  unsanctified  discussions. 
Let  our  prayer  to  God  be,  that  '  we  may  obtain  mercy, 
because  we  did  it  ignorant]  y,  and  in  unbelief     For  my  part, 


J48  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

I  humble  myself  before  God  for  this  and  all  my  multiplied 
transgressions ;  and  confess,  that  were  he  strict  to  mark 
iniquity,  I  could  not  abide  it.  But  with  him  there  is  mercy 
and  plenteous  redemption.  Let  us  not  despair  of  their  exten- 
sion even  to  us.  He  will  yet  give  us  to  '  rejoice  in  the  Lord 
and  to  joy'  even  abundantly  'in  the  God  of  our  salvation."* 

"March  2,  1813. — I  hope  there  is  not  an  undue  spice 
of  self-complacency  in  the  gratification  which  it  gives  me  to 
hear  from  you,  arising  out  of  the  kind  things  you  are  pleased 
to  say  of  me  ;  for  although  I  will  not  be  so  fastidious  as  to 
deny  the  value  which  I  set  upon  your  good  opinion,  yet  the 
insight  which  it  has  pleased  God  to  give  me  into  my  heart, 
and  the  hostility  which  it  daily  and  hourly  evinces  to  the 
operations  of  the  Holy  Comforter,  will,  I  trust,  sufficiently 
warn  and  guard  me  against  spiritual  pride,  and  the  too 
favorable  opinions  of  friends  so  partial  as  yourself." 

Yet  self-complacency,  or  something  else,  "  seemed  to  have 
obliterated  the  impressions  of  the  Sabbath,  and  to  have  pros- 
trated all  his  religious  affections."     He  says, 

"  At  an  early  hour  in  the  evening,  I  retired  to  my  cham- 
ber, and  opened  the  sacred  volume.  It  seemed  to  have  no 
word  of  comfort  for  me,  and  I  laid  it  aside,  disposed  to  retire 
to  my  slumbers  without  this  their  usual  prelude.  Happily, 
however,  I  have  not  latterly  dared  to  go  to  my  rest  without 
a  previous  prostration  at  the  footstool  of  the  throne  of  grace. 
I  wept  bitterly  at  the  necessity  of  entering  on  this  solemn 
exercise  with  icy  feelings  ;  nay,  I  fear,  with  almost  a  dispo- 
sition to  evade  the  duty.  I  am  sure,  I  should  have  been 
glad  to  have  a  Christian  friend  with  me,  whose  tongue  might 
have  relieved  my  own  from  a  service  for  which  I  felt  utterly 
imfit.  But  it  was  best  for  me  to  be  deprived  of  this  seeming 
blessing,  this  praying  friend.  Our  heavenly  Father  did  not 
suffer  my  apathy  and  torpor  to  continue  long.  The  humble 
petition,  that  he  would  be  pleased  *  not  to  cast  me  away  from 
his  presence,  nor  take  his  Holy  Spirit  from  me,'  but  that  ho 
would  'give  me  the  comfort  of  his  help  again,  and  stabhsli 


RELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  149 

me  with  his  free  Spirit,'  was  not  unanswered.  My  soul, 
before  full  of  heaviness,  and  disquieted  within  me,  ready  to 
cry  out  unto  the  God  of  my  strength,  'Why  hast  thou  for- 
gotten me  V  received  new  life  from  the  warming,  animating 
beams  of  divine  love.  My  praises  rose  into  rapture,  and  [ 
left  my  requests  with  the  God  of  all  grace,  with  a  renewed 
confidence  in  his  unchangeable  goodness  and  truth  ;  exclaim- 
ing with  holy  David,  I  will  '  put  my  trust  in  God ;  I  will 
yet  thank  him,  who  is  the  help  of  my  countenance  and  my 
God.'  I  will  only  add,  that  thus  prepared,  the  sacred  vol- 
ume gave  me  sweet  employment  until  the  lateness  of  the 
hour  obliged  me  to  retire  to  rest.  To  no  one  but  yourself 
would  I  be  thus  particular.  I  am  so  to  you,  because  the 
result  of  this  conflict  furnishes  a  consoling  assurance  of  the 
efficacy  of  humble,  fervent  prayer ;  a  privilege  and  blessing 
so  little  prized,  so  much  neglected." 

He  goes  on  to  say,  "  To-morrow  is  the  last  day  of  my 
public  life,"  and  to  take  a  sort  of  review  of  his  political  prin- 
ciples and  conduct  during  his  membership  in  Congress,  under 
the  light  of  his  new  and  higher  views ;  and  then  he  adds, 

"  But  how  I  fatigue  you  with  this  endless  talk  about 
myself  Let  me  turn  to  the  more  grateful  duty  of  congratu- 
lating you  on  your  increased  composure  of  mind,  your  con- 
sequent determination  to  unite  with  the  people  of  God  in  the 
holy  communion,  the  gratifying  circumstances  of  Mrs.  Brad- 
ford's association  with  you  in  this  solemn  profession,  and  the 
consolations  which  you  derive  from  your  stated  family  ob- 
servances. All  these  sources  of  happiness  will,  I  hope,  be 
one  day  mine.  How  long  some  of  them  may  be  postponed, 
I  cannot  tell.  Some  appeals  to  my  nearest  earthly  friend 
are  not  answered  as  I  could  wish.  But  conversation  and 
prayer  may,  with  higher  aid,  make  more  impression.  My 
appeals  are  not  rejected  or  negatived,  but  passed  over  slightly 
with  a  sort  of  acquiescence  bordering  on  indifference.  But 
perhaps  I  am  mistaken  in  my  opinion.  Mrs.  Milnor  is  too 
kmd  and  affectionate,  if  it  were  for  my  sake  only,  to  let  me 


150  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

travel  on  alone.  The  heavenly  Teacher  will,  I  hope,  make 
her,  for  Jier  oivn  sake,  my  companion  in  this,  as  in  all  the 
other  duties  of  life." 

His  next  letter  was  written  on  the  4th  of  March,  the  day 
of  President  Madison's  re-inauguration,  while  the  writer  was 
confined  to  his  chamber  by  his  old  enemy  the  gout.  It  turns 
chiefly  on  the  event  of  the  day,  and  the  character  of  the 
war  in  which  the  country  was  involved  ;  and  has,  therefore, 
little  or  nothing  to  the  purpose  of  these  extracts.  But,  two 
days  later,  being  still  confined,  he  wrote  again ;  and  his  letter 
was  full  of  interest. 

"March  6,  1813. — I  sit  down,  my  worthy  friend,  to 
write  you,  in  all  probability,  for  the  last  time  from  this 
place. 

"  In  the  series  of  letters  already  transmitted,  I  have  en- 
deavored to  give  you  a  faithful  transcript  of  my  feelings  on 
the  all-important  subject  of  religion.  Unless  I  have  been 
under  a  great  delusion,  they  describe  to  you  a  work  of  God 
upon  my  soul,  produced  by  the  free  and  unmerited  dispen- 
sation of  his  Spirit,  for  which  I  desire  ever  to  be  most  thank- 
ful, and  to  manifest  my  gratitude  by  devoting,  as  he  may 
enable  me  to  do,  the  residue  of  my  life  to  his  holy  service. 
Not  that  I  expect  to  pay,  by  any  imperfect  labors  of  my 
own,  the  incalculable  amount  of  obligation  which  I  owe  my 
heavenly  Benefactor.  My  blessed  Surety  has  done  for  me 
what  I  never  should  have  been  able  to  do  for  myself,  though 
an  angel's  powers  had  been  mine.  But  although  my  ran- 
som has  been  offered  and  accepted,  and  I  would  not  dare 
presumptuously  to  claim  the  merit  of  having  contributed  any 
thing  towards  it,  yet,  does  not  this  astonishing  goodness  call 
upon  me,  by  God's  help,  to  *  walk  in  all  the  commandments 
of  the  Lord  blameless  ?'  And  although  Christian  humility 
must  make  every  redeemed  sinner  acknowledge,  that  after 
his  best  performances,  he  is  *  an  unprofitable  servant,'  yet, 
does  it  exempt  him  from  exertion,  and  entitle  him  to  '  stand 
aU  the  day  idle  ?'     My  former  blindness  on  this  plain  and 


EELiaiOUS  CHA^^aE,  151 

easy  doctrine  of  our  religion  amazes  me.  The  inseparable 
union  of  saving  faith  and  good  works,  as  cause  and  eflect, 
whilst  no  reliance  is  placed  on  the  latter  as  the  efficient 
means  of  our  salvation — this  depends  wholly  on  the  atone- 
ment of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  benefits  of  which  are 
appropriated  to  ourselves  by  a  lively  faith,  the  gift  of  God's 
Holy  Spirit  working  in  us — is  at  this  moment  as  clear  to  my 
apprehension  as  the  simplest  proposition  of  which  I  can  con- 
ceive," though  it  were  friend  Aquila's  "  Two  and  two  make 
four."]  *'  However  I  appreciate — and  I  do  most  highly — 
the  labors  of  pious  men  employed  in  the  investigation  of 
religious  truth,  it  is  a  cause  of  rejoicing  with  me,  that  my 
hearty  reception  of  this  doctrine  is  derived  from  a  higher 
authority,  the  fountainhead  of  knowledge,  the  unerring  ivord 
of  God.  My  heart  bounds  within  me,  that  I  can  add,  the 
doctrine  is  sealed  upon  my  conscience  in  answ^er  to  fervent, 
importunate  supplication  at  the  throne  of  grace  ;  and  every 
day  gives  me  new  evidence  of  its  being  the  basis  of  every 
system  of  doctrine  that  can  rightfully  claim  the  gospel  of 
Christ  for  its  support." 

All  this  is  not  unlike  friend  Aquila's  ''solid  conviction'^ 
of  the  truths  which  he  found  so  precious  ;  and  if  this  letter 
had  been  addressed  to  him,  he  might  well  have  exclaimed, 
with  thankful  surprise,  "  The  gay,  the  popular,  the  worldly 
Milnor  has  become  a  zealous  convert  to  religion." 

"  0  how  comfortless  would  be  our  situation,  how  dismal 
our  prospect  for  the  future,  had  we  to  depend  on  any  thing 
short  of  the  right  arm  of  God  to  bring  us  salvation  I  Yes, 
thou  self-righteous,  presumptuous  Pharisee,  who  art  vaunt- 
ing thy  own  performances  before  thy  fellow-men,  tell  me, 
durst  thou  do  so  in  the  retirement  of  thy  closet,  and  to  thy 
God  ?  Dost  thou  ever  pray  ?  If  so.,  wherefore  this  unne- 
cessary trouble  ?  But  dost  thou  in  secret  acknowledge  thy 
infirmities,  and  ask  divine  assistance  ;  while,  before  men, 
thou  disclaimest  both  ?  Strange  inconsistency  I  Tremen- 
dous infatuation  I     Yerily,  unless  thou  art  brought  down 


152  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

from  tliy  towering  imaginations,  and  humbled  at  tlie  feet  of 
Jesus,  and  unless  thou  acknowledge  to  the  world  that  thy 
help  is  laid  upon  One  that  is  mighty,  the  most  darmg  profli- 
gate might  refuse  to  exchange  his  situation  for  thine.  Divine 
truth  may,  at  some  moment,  reach  his  heart,  and  subdue  his 
love  of  sensuality  and  pleasure.  But  thou  art  wise  above 
knowledge  ;  thou  art  wrapped  in  an  impenetrable  cloud  of 
arrogance  and  self-conceit.  Thou  hast  darkened  counsel, 
rejected  the  Saviour's  plan,  and  made  a  system  for  thyself; 
forgetting,  that  '  other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that 
is  laid,'  without  sinking  into  ruin  with  the  tottering,  base- 
less fabric  of  his  own  invention.  Yet,  the  mercy  of  God  is 
infinite,  and  a  timely  resort  to  it  may  prevent  even  thee 
from  feeling  how  '  fearful  a  thing  it  is  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  living  God.' 

"  Such,  I  have  thought,  were  I  a  commissioned  officer 
of  God,  would  be  my  address  to  those  self-worshipping  men 
'  who,  professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  have  become '  such 
*  fools '  as  to  subtract  from  the  all-sufhciency  of  the  gospel 
plan  of  redemption,  and  supply  '  a  cunningly  devised  fable ' 
of  their  own  :  to  reject  virtually,  if  not  confessedly,  the 
merits  of  an  almighty  Saviour,  even  an  incarnate  God,  by 
the  substitution,  or  at  least  addition  of  some  fancied  merits 
of  their  own  as  necessary  to  salvation.  Ah,  it  is  cursed  uifi- 
delity,  however  disguised ;  it  is  the  enmity  of  the  carnal 
mind  against  God,  that  jn-oduces  such  delusions.  In  the 
work  of  repentance,  wrought  by  God  upon  my  heart,  this 
'  root  of  bitterness '  has,  I  humbly  trust,  been  extracted  for 
ever  ;  and  now  my  prayer  to  God  is,  that  every  high  thought 
and  vain  imagination  may  be  laid  1om%  and  that,  as  the  only 
fit  preparation  for  an  entrance  into  that '  rest  which  remain- 
eth  for  the  people  of  God,'  I  may  be  '  washed  in  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb,'  be  '  sanctified '  by  divine  grace,  and  be  '■jus- 
tified in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of 
our  God.' 

**  It  is  a  great  source  of  humble  praise  and  thankfulncsa 


HELiaiOUS  CHANGE.  153 

to  Almighty  God,  that  he  has  led  me  to  love  and  obey  him, 
or  to  attempt,  in  some  sort,  to  do  so  ;  that  he  has  endeared 
to  me  the  word  of  truth  ;  that  he  has  opened  to  me  a  door 
of  access,  in  prayer  and  supplication,  through  the  blessed 
Mediator ;  that  he  has  revealed  to  my  mind,  by  his  Holy 
Spirit,  some  sense  of  pardoning  grace  for  past  transgressions  ; 
and  that  he  has  given  me  a  humble,  but  firm  hope  in  the 
promises  of  the  gospel," 

The  remainder  of  the  letter  is  occupied  with  considera- 
tions calculated  to  guard  his  friend  and  himself  from  the 
entanglements  of  business,  and  from  the  beguilings  of  pleas- 
ure ;  accommodating  to  these  dangers  the  language  of  Solo- 
mon, when  speaking  of  a  peculiar  class  of  perils,  "Can  a 
man  take  fire  in  his  bosom,  and  his  clothes  not  be  burned  ? 
Can  a  man  go  upon  hot  coals,  and  his  feet  not  be  burned  ?" 
and  closing  with  this  reference  to  a  future  improvement  of 
the  means  of  Christian  steadfastness  : 

"  We  shall  find,  in  their  daily  use,  a  comfort  and  security, 
that  will  minister  to  our  souls'  peace,  and  arm  us  against 
the  fiery  darts  of  the  Evil  One,  and  against  all  the  efforts 
of  his  followers  to  seduce  us  from  the  love  of  God  which  is 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

Although  he  supposed  that  the  above  would  be  his  last 
letter  from  Washington,  yet,  on  the  evening  of  the  same  and 
the  morning  of  the  next  day  he  wrote  another,  a  few  ex- 
tracts from  which  will  close  the  account,  furnished  by  this 
correspondence,  of  the  development  of  his  religious  views 
and  character. 

"  March  6  and  7,  1813.— What,  another  letter  ?  Yes, 
my  friend;  but,  wdth  more  truth  than  the  announcements 
of  our  theatrical  gentry  import,  '  positively  the  last  perform- 
ance in  this  city.' 

"  My  lameness,  thank  God,  nearly  removed,  my  accounts 
settled,  and  my  passage  taken  in  the  close  coach  for  Balti- 
more on  Monday  next,  I  shall,  with  divine  permission,  be 
then  on  my  homeward  way.  What  pleasure  have  I  in  the 
74^ 


154  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

prospect  of  a  permanent  reunion  with  my  family  and  friends 
during  the  residue  of  such  term  on  earth  as  God,  in  his  wis- 
dom, may  be  pleased  to  allow  me.  0  may  he  grant  to  you 
and  me,  when  we  are  '  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of 
our  departure  is  at  hand,'  that  complete  and  glorious  assur 
ance  which  enabled  the  great  apostle,  in  view  of  death, 
exultingly  to  exclaim,  '  I  have  fought  a  good  fight ;  I  have 
finished  my  course  ;  I  have  kept  the  faith :  henceforth  there 
is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord, 
the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day  ;  and  not  to 
me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love  his  appearing.' 
Let  us  avail  ourselves  of  the  last  encouraging  assurance,  and 
seek,  devoutly,  perseveringly  seek  to  be  of  the  number  of 
those  who  love  the  Lord's  appearing." 

"  In  my  former  communications  I  have  said  but  little  on 
the  awful  subject  of  death  ;  but  much,  I  hope,  having  a 
relation  to  the  requisite  preparation  for  that  event.  The 
truth  is,  that  without  meaning  to  undervalue  the  solemn 
incitements  to  duty,  arising  out  of  the  denunciations  of  the 
gospel  against  the  finally  impenitent,  which  often  affect  me 
with  deep  and  afflicting  anxiety,  I  have  to  praise  God  that 
he  has  brought  my  mind  to  a  realizing  sense  of  religion 
rather  by  the  soothing  and  inviting  p^-omises  than  by  the 
soul-awakening  terrors  of  his  word.  I  feel  as  if  I  must  love 
my  Saviour  for  himself ,  for  his  own  intrinsic  excellence  of 
character,  independently  of  his  love  to  me,  undeserving  as 
I  know  myself  to  be  of  the  smallest  of  his  many  favors. 
But  when  I  look  into  my  past  life,  and  view  myself  the  slave 
of  sin  and  the  bond-servant  of  iniquity  ;  living  at  the  full 
meridian  of  gospel  light,  yet  choosing  darkness  because  my 
deeds  were  evil  ;  being  almost  without  a  sense  of  God's 
righteous  government,  and  of  my  accountability  to  him  ;  and 
offering  him  external  worship,  the  service  of  the  lips,  while 
my  heart  was  far  from  him  ;  when  I  consider  that,  in  so 
hopeless  a  condition,  his  love  should  have  reached  even  me, 
*  the  chief  of  sinners,'  and  given  me  a  comfortable  prospect 


RELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  155 

of  pardon  and  acceptance ;  I  find  abundant  cause  for  cleav- 
ing to  him,  even  if  an  eternity  of  punishment  did  not — as 
assuredly  it  does — await  a  contrary  course.  So  fully  do  I 
feel  a  Saviour's  love  shed  abroad  in  my  heart,  that  methinks, 
though  a  dreadful  hell  did  not  await  my  desertion  of  him, 
I  could  never  leave  or  forsake  him.  In  this  view  of  the 
*  constraining  love  of  Christ,'  the  terrors  of  the  laAV  seem 
absorbed  and  lost,  and  the  soul  contemplates  the  great  Je- 
hovah only  as  '  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long- 
suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth,  keeping  mercy 
for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity,  transgression,  and  sin.' 
Although  I  would  not  take  from  this  sublime  description  of 
his  character  the  remaining  essential  attribute  of  justice, 
exhibited  in  the  concluding  clause,  that  he  '  will  by  no  means 
clear  the  guilty,'  yet  the  idea  which  I  wish  to  convey  is,  that 
the  drawings  of  his  love,  rather  than  the  threatenings  of  his 
law,  have  been  the  means  of  turnmg  my  heart  to  God. 

"  Under  such  feelings,  how  do  an  attachment  to  life  and 
a  fear  of  death  diminish  I  This  it  is  that  destroys  the  come- 
liness of  all  created  things,  and  disrobes  the  tyrant  of  his 
terrors  whenever  he  may  approach.  This  it  is  that  makes 
us  see  the  mercy  of  God  in  all  our  earthly  afflictions,  and 
death  itself  to  be  but  the  passage  to  ever-enduring  happiness 
The  love  of  God  in  Christ  disarms  him  of  his  sting,  and  robs 
the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  of  all  its  horrors.  It 
was  this  that  could  make  the  great  apostle  say,  '  For  me  to 
live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain ;'  and  with  all  his  desire  of 
usefulness  to  the  Church  on  earth,  and  of  some  prolongation 
of  his  life  for  that  purpose,  yet  to  acknowledge  his  '  desire 
to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better.'  " 

He  had  recently  been 'reading  Lindley  Murray's  "little 
book,  called  '  The  Power  of  Ueligion  on  the  Mind  in  affliction 
and  retirement,  and  at  the  approach  of  death  ;'  "  and  had 
been  much  affected  by  its  contents.  He  had  also  been  study- 
ing "  the  eloquent  and  impassioned  sermons  of  the  late  Pres- 
ident Davies,  of  Princeton  college ;"  and  gives  a  striking 


156  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

extract  from  one  of  the  president's  letters  to  a  friend,  descrip- 
tive of  his  happy  feehngs  on  a  supposed  near  approach  of 
death.  He  adds,  further,  some  extracts  from  the  sermons, 
of  great  interest ;  with  one  of  which,  and  a  few  remarks 
thereon,  he  closes  the  correspondence  with  Mr.  Bradford. 
This  last  extract  from  President  Davies'  sermons,  with  Mr. 
Milnor's  remarks  thereon,  is  as  follows  : 

"Fmally,"  says  the  President,  "let  me  congratulate  my 
reverend  brethren  on  their  being  made  ministers  of  the  New 
Testament,  which  reveals  that  glorious  and  delightful  sub- 
ject— '  Christ  crucified' — m  full  light,  and  diffuses  it  through 
all  their  studies  and  discourses.  '  The  Lamb  that  was  slam,' 
is  the  theme  that  animates  the  songs  of  angels  and  saints 
above ;  and  even  our  unhallowed  lips  are  allowed  to  touch 
it  without  profanation.  Let  us  therefore  delight  to  dwell 
upon  it.  Let  us  do  full  justice  to  the  refined  morality  of 
the  gospel ;  let  us  often  explain  and  enforce  the  precepts, 
the  graces,  and  the  virtues  of  Christianity,  and  teach  men 
to  '  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  in  this  world ;'  but 
let  us  do  this  in  an  evangelical  strain,  as  ministers  of  the 
crucified  Jesus,  and  not  as  the  scholars  of  Epictetus  or  Sen- 
eca. Let  us  labor  to  bring  men  to  a  hearty  compliance  with 
the  method  of  salvation  through  Christ,  and  then  we  shall 
find  it  comparatively  an  easy  matter  to  make  them  good 
moralists.  Then,  a  short  hint  of  their  duty  to  God  and  man 
will  be  more  forcible  than  whole  volumes  of  ethics  while 
their  spirits  are  not  cast  in  the  gospel  mould." 

*'  I  have  little  prospect,"  adds  Mr.  Milnor,  "  that  I  can 
be  useful  in  the  way  suggested  ;  and  yet  I  wish  I  could  be, 
for  I  think  I  always  loved  my  fellow-men ;  and  never  so 
much  as  since  I  have  convincingly  felt  the  love  of  Christ  on 
my  own  soul.  The  thought  of  being  instrumental  in  saving 
one  soul  out  of  hell  besides  my  own,  would  be  more  to  me 
than  the  wealth  of  the  Indies." 

This  letter,  as  a  whole,  furnishes  a  fit  close  of  the  series 
to  which  it  belongs.    His  experience  in  beuig  drawn  to  Christ 


RELiaiOUS  CHANGE.  157 

by  love  rather  than  driven  to  him  by  terror,  furnished  the 
key-note  to  the  harmony  of  his  subsequent  preaching  of  the 
gospel.  He  dehghted  in  winning  souls  to  heaven  by  the  love 
of  Christ,  more  than  in  terrifying  them  from  hell  by  the 
thunders  of  w^rath.  And  it  is  probable  that  every  faithful 
preacher  of  Christ,  when  he  comes  to  proclaim  the  Saviour 
to  others,  unstudyingly  follows  the  course  of  his  own  experi- 
ence under  the  work  of  conversion.  John's  preaching  A^as 
fullest  of  love;  Paul's,  of  light;  James's,  oi  practice ;  and 
Peter's,  of  loarning  and  conjirnuition  for  the  brethren.  His 
last  extract,  moreover,  from  President  Davies,  shows  that  a 
radical  change  had  taken  place  in  his  own  theological  sys- 
tem, as  well  as  in  the  temper  of  his  heart.  Formerly,  he 
used  to  put  morals  before  the  gospel,  and  even  as  a  substi- 
tute for  it,  while  yet  he  never  reached  a  morality  which  was 
more  than  superficial  and  earthly ;  but  noio,  he  had  learned 
to  put  the  gospel  before  morals,  not  because  morality  is  use- 
loss,  but  because  he  had  found  in  the  gospel  the  power  of 
God  for  producing  such  morals  as  live  in  heaven.  And 
finally,  his  closing  remarks  on  that  extract  prove  that  his 
mind  was  already  ripe  for  the  work  of  the  ministry  of  recon- 
ciliation. His  last  words  breathe  the  true  spirit  of  Christ 
and  of  Paul,  and  of  every  largely  successful  preacher  of  the 
Cross  :  "  The  thought  of  being  instrumental  in  saving  one 
Boul  out  of  hell  besides  my  o^n,  would  be  more  to  me  than 
the  wealth  of  the  Indies." 

Allusion  was  made,  some  time  since,  to  several  letters  to 
Mrs.  Milnor  and  others,  written  during  the  progress  of  the 
foregoing  correspondence,  and  containing  passages  of  interest 
in  their  bearing  on  this  period  of  Mr.  Milnor's  life.  Those  to 
Mrs.  Milnor  in  particular,  as  breathing  intense  desires  for 
her  salvation,  furnish  the  best  evidence  of  the  genuineness  of 
his  conversion.  A  few  of  these  passages,  therefore,  will  now 
be  given  ;  and  with  them  will  close  the  view,  proposed  to  be 
taken,  of  the  work  of  grace  in  his  heart,  as  presented  m  his 
own  prolonged  account.     The  letters  to  his  wife,  from  which 


158  MEMOIU  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

extracts  have  already  been  given,  spoke  mainly  of  external 
conformity  to  the  ordinances  of  the  church.  Those  from 
which  passages  are  now  to  be  furnished,  say  little  on  those 
subjects,  but  abound  in  thoughts  calculated  to  awaken  her 
mind,  and  to  lead  her  to  an  immediate  turning  unto  God. 

"Jan.  30,  1813. — Do  you  begin  to  feel  the  power  of 
religion  upon  the  heart  ?  Do  you  ever  dare  to  hold  commun- 
iofi  with  your  Saviour  in  the  privacy  and  stillness  of  your 
chamber  ?  Do  you  find  pleasure  and  consolation  in  reading 
the  sacred  book  of  God  ?  Oh,  it  is  to  the  true  Christian  a 
most  invaluable  treasure  of  knowledge  and  of  comfort ;  and 
if  my  heavenly  Father  enables  me  to  overcome  the  seduc- 
tions and  temptations  of  a  wicked  world,  I  will  regulate  my 
faith  and  my  practice  by  its  blessed  doctrines  and  precepts. 
I  am  covered  with  shame  and  remorse  at  my  past  inexcu- 
sable folly  and  neglect.  Boundless  riches  of  grace  before  me, 
and  I  so  poor,  and  needy,  and  miserable,  and  naked  I  A 
garden,  abounding  in  every  variety  of  spiritual  pleasure,  so 
near  me,  and  I  roaming  in  pursuit  of  the  gilded  but  perish- 
hig  vanities  of  this  world  !  What  madness  I  What  infatu- 
ation I  But,  thanks  be  to  God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  this  winter  has  been  to  me  a  precious  winter ;  and, 
since  I  left  you,  almost  every  day  has  given  me  new  cause 
to  adore  and  magnify  the  goodness  of  God  in  opening  my 
eyes  to  a  view  of  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin  ;  of  the  abso- 
lute want  of  personal  merit  in  myself,  and  of  any  ability  to 
save  myself;  of  the  astonishing  display  of  divine  mercy  in 
the  gospel  scheme  of  salvation ;  and  of  my  duty  reverently 
and  gratefully  to  accept  its  beneficent  terms." 

"  Give  your  mind  to  the  contemplation  of  this  all-impor- 
tant subject.  I  will  pray  daily  for  you,  as  for  myself,  that 
we  may  each  receive  the  openings  of  divine  illumination. 
Only  remember  one  thing,  God  requires  the  lirarf,  llu^  irlwle 
heart,  to  be  surrendered  to  him  ;  and  when  this  is  done,  ho 
will  change  it,  regenerate  it,  wash  it  from  every  defilement, 
and  prepare  it  Cor  its  final  state  of  perfect  happiness." 


RELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  159 

"Feb.  12,  1813. — From  the  brevity,  infrequency,  and' 
reserve  of  your  letters  to  me  this  winter,  I  conclude  that 
those  with  which  I  occasionally  trouble  you,  afford  you  but 
little  pleasure."  [They  had  not,  like  those  of  the  previous 
winter,  abounded  in  pleasant  details  of  gay  life  in  Washing- 
ton. The  truth  was,  as  he  goes  on  to  say,]  "  The  experi- 
ment has  been  long  tried  of  making  a  compromise  between 
religion  and  the  world.  I  find  it  will  not  do  ;  and  if  I  am 
strengthened  by  divine  grace  to  maintain  my  resolution,  I 
am  determined  to  abstract  myself  as  much  as  possible  from 
the  haunts  of  pleasure.  All  associations  inconsistent  with 
the  innocence  and  purity  at  which  I  desire  to  aim,  must  by 
me  be  laid  aside,  because  the  book  of  God  and  the  teachings 
of  his  Holy  Spirit  direct  such  a  course  of  self-denial  as  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  a  soul  resolutely  bent  on  the  cultivation 
of  the  Christian  life.  0,  my  dear  Ellen,  can  you  not  be  my 
companion  and  '  help-meet'  on  the  way  to  heaven  ?  Thith- 
erward all  my  desires  and  wishes  tend.  Come  with  me,  my 
best  earthly  friend. 

"  I  doubt  not  your  willingness  to  renounce  the  gayeties 
of  life.  In  these  you  have  hitherto  little  mixed.  In  this 
respect,  I  have  abundantly  more  to  answer  for  than  you. 
But,  my  love,  you  must  do  more  than  this.  You  must  not 
talk  of  intending  to  be  serious.  Consider  the  brevity  and 
uncertainty  of  life,  and  the  awful  consequences  of  dying  in  an 
unconverted  state.  '  Noiv  is  the  accepted  time  ;  noiv  is  the 
day  of  salvation.'  Now,  if  we  call  on  the  blessed  Saviour, 
he  will  hear  our  voice,  and  grant  our  humble  supplications. 
0  let  us  see  in  its  proper  light  the  deformity  of  sin.  It  was 
that  which  nailed  our  bleeding  Lord  to  the  accursed  tree. 
It  is  that  which  now  separates  us  from  him,  and  prevents 
tliese  cold  and  flinty  hearts  from  breaking  out  in  rapturous 
Btrains  of  love  and  praise  for  such  an  astonishing  display  of 
grace  and  mercy  to  a  perishing  world.  Shall  he  have  bled 
and  died  for  us  in  vain  ?  Assuredly  this  will  be  the  case,  if 
we  refuse  to  accept  the  terms  proffered  in  the  gospel.     What 


IGO  MEMOIR  OF   DR.   MILNOK. 

are  they  ?  A  turning  unto  God  by  faith  in  Christ,  and 
repentance  for  past  transgressions ;  and  even  these  things 
are  not  expected  to  he  done  by  us  in  our  own  natural 
strength  :  divine  assistance  is  promised  to  every  humble 
penitent.  Christ's  all-sufficient  grace  will  never  be  with- 
held in  time  of  need.  No  matter  what  have  been  our  offen- 
ces, though  they  be  red  like  scarlet  or  crimson,  he  will  make 
them  white  as  snow.  He  requires  nothing  on  our  part  but 
the  surrender  of  ourselves  into  his  hands,  as  a  faithful  Shep- 
herd, who  never  abandons  his  flock.  Neither  does  he  expect 
us  to  come  to  him  in  a  state  of  holiness  :  he  knows  our  infirm- 
ities, and  the  natural  depravity  of  our  hearts.  We  are  to 
approach  the  footstool  of  sovereign  mercy  juU  as  ive  are, 
owning  ourselves  sinners  by  nature,  and  sinners  by  practice  ; 
giving  up  every  claim  of  self-righteousness  or  self-dependence, 
and  relying  wholly  upon  him  to  make  us  what  he  would 
have  us  to  be.  Be  persuaded,  my  Ellen,  to  read  the  Scrip- 
tures, especially  the  New  Testament ;  and  try  to  lay  hold, 
by  faith,  of  the  gracious  promises  which  there  abound. 
Doubt  not  the  love  of  the  adorable  Saviour.  By  his  Spirit, 
he  will  fan  the  fading  embers  of  piety  in  your  heart  into  a 
flame  of  glowing  devotion  ;  and  you  will  find  a  pleasure,  and 
take  an  interest  in  the  exercises  of  public  and  private  w^or- 
ship,  such  as  you  never  before  experienced.  I  am  awfully 
convinced,  that  if  we  are  not  finally  saved,  it  will  be  our 
own  fault ;  for  G  od  has  put  all  the  means  immediately 
within  our  reach.  Let  us  cordially,  and  with  full  purpose 
of  heart,  make  use  of  them.  Neither  let  us  be  ashamed  of 
assuming  the  Cross  of  Christ.  I  mean  not  by  putting  on 
any  aflectation  of  extraordinary  sanctity — that  was  the  vice 
of  the  Pharisees,  which  Christ  so  severely  reprehended — no, 
let  our  faith  and  piety  be  evinced  by  the  holiness  of  our  lives  ; 
by  attending  regularly  on  public  worship  ;  by  joining  in  the 
ordinances  of  the  church ;  by  reading  attentively  the  word 
of  God,  which  contains  the  message  of  eternal  lite ;  by 
charity  and  kindness  to  our  fellow-men ;  by  a  renunciation 


RELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  161 

of  all  sinful  pleasures  ;  and,  dare  I  venture  to  suggest  it  ?  by 
family  prayer.  These  things  will  recommend  us  to  the  favor 
of  our  heavenly  Father" — [a  remnant  of  his  olden  phraseol- 
ogy still  cleaving  to  him,  which,  a  month  later,  he  would 
have  cast  away  as  a  filthy  rag  of  self-righteousness] — "  and 
though  a  gainsaying  world  may  sneer  at  our  course,  Ave 
shall  yet  have  inward  peace,  and  the  hope  that  '  we  may 
die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  that  our  last  end  may  be 
like  his.' 

"  0  do  not  give  me  a  cold  answer,  in  a  single  sentence, 
to  these  well-meant  suggestions.  Lay  them  to  heart.  Take 
up  this  letter  a  second  and  a  third  time,  and  then  tell  me 
unreservedly  your  feelings.  If  I  did  not  love  you  most  sin- 
cerely, I  would  not  write  thus  to  you.  If  I  had  not,  in  a 
measure,  felt  the  grace  of  God  on  my  own  heart,  I  should 
not  dare  to  invite  you  to  seek  after  a  change  of  yours.  My 
attainments  are  infinitely  small,  but  I  have  '  laid  my  help 
upon  One  who  is  mighty  to  save,'  and  who  will  '  save,  to 
the  uttermost,  all  who  come  unto  God  through  him.'  I 
solicit  you  to  do  the  same  ;  and  then  there  is  no  danger  but 
that,  persevering  in  the  ways  of  his  appointment,  we  shall 
spend  a  happy  life,  so  far  as  it  is  attainable  in  this  vale  of 
tears,  and  a  happier  eternal  life  in  the  Paradise  of  God." 

The  only  remaining  letter  to  Mrs.  Milnor  from  which  we 
shall  quote,  was  dated, 

"Feb.  27,  1813. — If,"  says  he,  "the  cause  of  your 
increased  reluctance"  to  write  "  arises  from  a  secret  dislike 
to  the  serious  tenor  of  my  letters  this  winter,  it  would  grieve 
me  much  more"  than  if  it  were  found  in  your  mere  want  of 
fondness  for  the  pen.  "  For,  as  I  wish  you  to  be  a  partaker 
w^ith  me  in  every  earthly  enjoyment,  so  do  I  most  ardently 
desire  that  we  may  be  joint  participants  in  that  happiness 
which  is  laid  up  for  the  righteous  in  the  world  to  come. 
Every  day  enamours  me  more  and  more  with  the  beauties 
and  consolations  of  religion.  It  has  been  the  pleasure  of  God 
to  turn  my  heart  to  it  with  increased  ardor,  and  to  cheer  me 


162  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

with  the  prospect  of  that  great  'recompense  of  reward,' 
which  has  been  purchased  for  us  by  the  atoning  blood  of  the 
dear  Redeemer,  on  whose  merits  only  do  I  desire  to  rely  for 
every  hope  of  future  blessedness.  There  is  no  enthusiasm, 
no  delusion,  in  these  enlivening  prospects.  They  are  found- 
ed on  the  immutable  promises  of  God  in  the  word  of  truth, 
and  are  of  more  value  than  all  the  riches,  and  honors,  and 
pleasures  of  an  unsatisfying  world.  My  future  life  must, 
therefore,  be  conformed,  so  far  as  weak  and  wavering  human 
nature  will  permit,  to  the  rules  of  the  blessed  gospel.  All 
other  things  must  be  held  subordinate  to  this  ;  and  you  too, 
my  endeared  partner,  must  arouse  your  slumbering  afiections, 
take  up  your  cross,  and  follow  after  Christ." 

Perhaps  God  was  then  teaching  her  to  do  what  her  hus- 
band so  earnestly  urged,  and  thus  her  neglect  of  writmg  may 
have  had  no  other  than  its  old  cause. 

The  other  contemporaneous  letters,  to  which  allusion  has 
been  made,  were  addressed  to  Bishop  White  and  the  Rev. 
Jackson  Kemper,  the  latter  an  assistant  minister  in  the  par- 
ish of  which  the  bishop  was  rector.  From  those  to  the  lat- 
ter a  few  extracts  are  subjoined. 

"  February,  1813. — Rev.  and  dear  sir,  I  write  to  you  con- 
fidentially as  a  friend,  and  most  seriously  and  respectfully  as 
an  ambassador  of  God,  and  one  of  those  appointed  to  minis- 
ter among  us  in  holy  things.  It  is  on  a  subject  upon  wliich, 
though,  in  the  Laodicean  state  of  too  many  among  us,  it  may 
be  unusual  for  individuals  to  make  their  feelings  known  to 
you,  yet,  if  I  rightly  apprehend  the  measure  of  your  zeal  in 
the  cause  of  religion  and  the  salvation  of  souls,  a  disclosure, 
whenever  made  in  sincerity  and  from  right  motives,  will  be 
properly  appreciated,  and  receive  its  merited  attention. 
Religion  has,  in  a  vague  and  unsettled  manner,  afi'ected  my 
mhid  occasionally  from  my  earliest  recollection.  Sometimes 
it  has  warmed  and  animated  my  heart.  Sometimes  I  have 
been  involved  in  S})ccu1atio7is  calculated  to  lessen  its  eflect 
as  the  governing  principle  and  rule  of  life  and  conduct ;  and 


HELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  163 

sometimes,  by  subtracting  from  the  peculiar  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  I  have  weakened  its  divine  authority,  and  made 
it  a  mere  system  of  morahty,  which  the  human,  mind,  limited 
as  it  is,  might  have  been  competent  to  frame  withqut  the 
intervention  of  the  wisdom  of  the  Most  High,  or  the  suffer- 
ings and  death  of  his  blessed  Son, 

"  In  the  providence  of  God,  I  have  had  my  mind  drawn 
to  this  interesting  subject  in  a  way  which  I  have  never  before 
experienced." 

He  then  proceeds  to  a  brief  account  of  the  progress  of  his 
change,  coincident  with  that  already  laid  before  the  reader 
in  the  extracts  from  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Milnor  and  his  friend 
Bradford  ;  after  which  he  adds, 

"  I  do  not  state  these  things  to  you  boastingly.  *  God 
forbid  that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the  Cross  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.'  My  heart  tells  me  that  I  have  nothing  to 
boast  of  It  is  of  the  goodness  of  my  heavenly  Father  that 
my  eyes  have  been  partially  opened,  and  I  rely  wholly  upon 
his  all-sufficient  grace  to  enable  me,  '  forgetting  those  things 
which  are  behind,  to  press  towards  those  things  which  are 
before — towards  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.'  " 

Then  follows  a  proposal  to  present  himself  for  confirma- 
tion and  the  Lord's  supper,  at  the  first  convenient  opportu- 
nity after  his  return  to  Philadelphia  ;  to  which  he  subjoins, 

"  I  am  suitably  aware  of  the  awful  responsibility  of  such 
a  measure  ;  but  entering  upon  it,  as  I  trust,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  God's  word  impressed  by  his  Spirit  upon  my  heart, 
with  a  confirmed  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  his  atone- 
ment for  the  sins  of  a  lost  and  ruined  world,  and  in  the  gra- 
cious promises  of  his  gospel,  on  them  will  I  depend  for  the 
performance  of  the  duty,  and  for  aid  to  follow  it  by  a  corre- 
sponding obedience  to  the  commandments  of  God  in  my  sub- 
sequent life  and  deportment. 

"  I  am  sure  you  will  pardon  this  egotism.  It  is  an  ob- 
servation of  the  great  Lord  Bacon,  that  '  the  communicating 


164  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

of  a  man's  self  to  his  friend,  worketh  two  contrary  effects  ; 
for  it  redoubleth  joys,  and  cutteth  griefs  in  half;  and  there 
is  no  man  that  imparteth  his  joys  to  his  friend,  but  he  joyeth 
the  more  ;  and  no  man  imparteth  his  griefs  to  his  friend,  but 
he  grieveth  the  less.'  Such  is  the  only  apology  I  now  offer 
for  opening  my  mind  to  you,  whom  I  desire  to  consider  not 
merely  in  the  formal  relation  of  my  spiritual  instructor,  but 
in  the  still  more  tender  one  of  a  friend  and  brother  in 
Christ." 

To  this  letter,  Mr.  Kemper  returned  the  answer  formerly 
noticed  in  the  correspondence  with  Mr.  Bradford,  after  which 
Mr.  Milnor  addressed  him  a  second,  dated, 

"Feb.  27,  1813. — I  thank  you  sincerely,  my  dear  sir, 
for  your  kind  and  affectionate  letter,  and  cordially  accept  it 
as  a  pledge  of  our  union  in  the  cause  of  Christ.  For  myself, 
I  can  promise  but  little.  Every  day  furnishes  new  evidence 
to  my  mind  of  the  necessity  of  abandoning  self-confidence, 
and  of  placing  my  reliance  upon  Him  only  who  is  '  mighty 
to  save.'  Since  my  attention  has  been  turned  with  more 
closeness  than  heretofore  to  the  interesting  concerns  of  relig- 
ion, the  dangerous  hinderances  with  which  I  meet  to  the 
Christian's  progress  in  holiness  have  filled  me  with  appre- 
hensions, such  as,  in  my  recent  state  of  self-security,  were 
wholly  unknown  to  me."  "  I  entreat  your  prayers  that  I 
may  be  succored  by  the  aids  of  divine  grace,  so  that  I  may 
fall  '  into  no  sm,  neither  run  into  any  kind  of  danger.' 

"  I  rejoice  at  the  intimations  given  in  your  letter,  of  an 
increased  concern  in  some  of  our  members  about  their  im- 
mortal souls,  and  pray  God  that  it  may  manifest  itself  in  an 
open  profession  of  religion  on  the  part  of  many.  How  strange, 
that  we  should  be  ashamed  to  be  known  as  C-hrist's  real  dis- 
ciples I  Yet  I  speak  both  from  observation  and  from  expe- 
rience, when  I  say,  that  a  fear  of  tliis  AMuld'.si  censure  and 
criticisms,  and  of  an  abridi^mont  of  its  pleasures,  deters  many, 
who  are  not  without  a  icspi^ct  for  religion,  nor  without  oc- 
casional alarms  in  their  consciences  for  their  want  of  -vin- 


EELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  165 

formity  to  it,  from  openly  acknowledging  themselves  the 
followers  of  Christ.  Even  at  this  moment,  with  all  my 
strong  desires  after  a  saving  interest  in  his  merits,  and  reso- 
lutions to  embrace  every  means  of  grace  which  his  goodness 
has  provided,  the  tempter  often  assails  me  with  such  sug- 
gestions. A  loss  of  business,  arising  from  more  scrupulous- 
ness in  its  selection  ;  a  loss  of  acquaintance,  proceeding  from 
the  same  cause  ;  a  relinquishment  of  some  long-established 
schemes  of  pleasure  ;  the  world's  scorn,  and  evil  imputa- 
tions ;  a  dread  of  singularity,  and  a  numerous  train  of  simi- 
lar difficulties,  are  powerful  in  weakening  good  determina- 
tions, and  in  diverting  the. mind  from  '  the  one  thing  needful.' 
And  yet,  when  rightly  viewed,  some  of  these  have  no  foun- 
dation ;  and  with  respect  to  others,  religion  would  be  valua- 
ble, independently  of  its  holier  ends,  if  its  only  effect  were  to 
destroy  an  ill-judged  fondness  for  many  things  alike  unprofit- 
able both  for  this  world  and  for  that  which  is  to  come.  But 
when  considered  in  relation  to  our  duties  to  God,  as  the  great 
author  of  our  existence,  and  in  relation  to  ourselves  as  rebels 
against  his  divine  authority,  yet  reconciled  to  him  and  freely 
pardoned  through  the  sacrifice  of  his  Son,  how  insignificant 
appear  all  other  things  compared  with  *  the  excellency  of  the 
knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,'  and  an  assurance  of  an 
interest  in  his  blessed  atonement !  Here,  by  his  gracious 
aid,  WILL  I  TAKE  UP  MY  REST  \  in  all  my  weakness  relying 
upon  his  strength,  and  in  the  midst  of  trials  and  tempta- 
tions depending  wholly  upon  him,  who  has  promised  that 
he  '  will  not  suffer  us  to  be  tempted  above  that  we  are  able 
to  bear.'  " 

Such,  then,  viewed  in  the  light  of  his  private  journals 
and  of  his  own  letters  at  the  time  and  since,  was  that  emi- 
nent work  of  grace  in  his  heart  which — after  long  years  of 
indulgence  in  the  dream  of  a  universal  salvation,  in  "a  mis- 
chievous conceit  of  the  merit  of  human  works,"  or  of  man's 
virtual  sufficiency  to  save  himself,  and  in  a  strenuous  warfare 
against  evangelical  truth  in  g'eneral  and  Calvinism  in  par- 


166  MEMOIR  OF  DP..  MILNOR. 

ticular — the  Holy  Spirit  accomplished  in  the  once  unbelieving 
and  worldly  subject  of  this  memoir.  It  has  been  supposed 
that  the  process  had  its  beginning  durmg  his  congressional 
career,  and  that  it  might  be  traced  to  particular  incidents 
lying  within  that  period  of  his  life ;  but  our  researches  have 
shown  that,  in  reality,  it  dates  from  a  point  much  farther 
back  in  his  history. =^     It  is  plain  that  his  first  step  towards 

*  His  son's  "  Eecollections  "  give  the  following  remarks:  "There 
have  been  many  reports  respecting  the  instrumental  cause  of  his  con- 
version ;  none  of  them,  I  believe,  entirely  correct.  Some  of  the  cir- 
cumstances related  very  probably  promoted  the  change  ;  but  none,  I 
think,  originated  it.  One  incident  doubtless  made  a  powerful  impres 
sion.  On  one  of  his  visits  to  Philadelphia,  during  his  term  in  Congress, 
his  little  daughter  Anna  met  him,  as  he  entered  the  house,  with  the 
exclamation,  'Papa,  do  you  know  I  can  read?'  'No,'  said  he;  'let 
me  hear  you,'  '  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,' 
were  the  words  which  she  happened  to  select.  A  chord  in  his  heart 
vibrated  in  harmony.  It  seemed  to  come  as  a  solemn  admonition. 
Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  God  was  teaching  him.  Still,  human 
agency  had  little  to  do  with  his  change.  The  Spirit  of  God  was  mov- 
ing within  him,  and  gradually  drawing  him  from  worldly  thoughts  and 
scenes  to  the  retirement  of  his  closet,  where  he  could  commune  with 
his  own  heart  and  be  still." 

His  friend  Bradford  also,  in  his  "Reminiscences,"  mentions  the 
following  incident.  "  Religious  subjects  were  evidently  interesting  to 
him  for  a  long  time  before  his  conversion,  though  he  was  not  distinctly 
aware  of  it.  I  well  remember  calling  upon  him  one  evening  at  his 
house  in  Walnut-street,  when  he  remarked,  that  he  had  just  read  'The 
Dairyman's  Daughter,'  and  had  wept  over  it;  and  that  his  wife  had 
read  it,  and  Patty  the  cook  had  read  it,  with  similar  feelings." 

The  following  also  may  throw  a  ray  of  light  on  the  progress  of  his 
mind  in  religious  knowledge.  Some  years  before  his  death.  Dr.  Milnor 
was  conversing  with  a  friend  in  New  York  about  events  which  occurred 
while  he  was  in  Congress.  He  stated,  that  while  walking,  one  day, 
with  the  eccentric  John  Randolph,  their  conversation  turned  on  moral 
subjects;  and,  in  proof  of  some  sentiment  which  he  had  advanced,  he 
quoted  a  text  from  the  Bible.  Randolph,  thinking  the  passage  misap- 
plied, turned  on  him  suddenly  and  severely  with  the  exclamation, 
"You  quote  Scripture,  Milnor?  Why  do  you  quote  Scripture?  You 
know  nothing  of  the  Bible.  Go  home  and  study  it,"  The  doctoi 
added,  to  his  New  York  friend,  "I  felt  the  justice  of  the  rebuke,  and 


EELiaiOUS  CHANaE.  167 

the  truth,  under  the  divine  leadings,  was  taken  soon  after 
the  receipt  of  his  friend  Bolton's  pungent  letters,  durmg  the 
second  year  of  his  married  life.  He  began  his  course  by- 
resolving  to  search  the  Scriptures,  that  he  might  see  whether 
they  taught  his  creed  of  a  universal  salvation.  This,  hoAV- 
ever,  drove  him,  as  a  preparatory  step,  to  examine  the  evi- 
dences of  revelation,  the  claims  of  the  Bible  to  divine  inspi- 
ration. In  this  search,  he  seems  to  have  acted  like  a  lawyer 
only,  in  the  weighing  and  sifting  of  testimony  ;  and  he  ac- 
cordingly came  to  no  more  than  a  lawyer's  conclusion,  a  mere 
faith  of  the  rational  understanding,  that  the  Bible  is  God's 
word.  He  now  proceeded  to  the  reading  of  its  contents,  and, 
in  doing  so,  soon  found  that  they  do  not  teach  his  then  favor- 
ite theory  of  the  salvation  of  all  men.  Still,  he  was  not 
prepared  to  receive  their  plain,  obvious  meaning ;  he  there- 
fore set  himself  to  his  protracted  labor  of  interpreting  them 
in  accordance  with  what  now  became  his  equally  favorite 
theory  of  the  merit  of  works,  of  man's  supposed  ability  to 
save  himself.  Thus  he  entered  his  long  warfare  against  the 
truth — at  first  under  the  Presbyterian  ministry  of  Linn  and 
Wilson,  and  afterwards  under  the  Episcopal  teachings  of 
White  and  Abercrombie,  Kemper  and  Pilmore.  In  that 
warfare,  evidently,  he  was  now  and  then  hit  by  the  arrows 
of  light,  shot  by  the  hand  of  some  evangelical  archer ;  so 
that,  when  he  fnially  entered  the  strife  of  the  political  arena, 
he  went  with  a  strange  mixture  of  light  and  darkness,  and 
with  the  risings  of  a  mysterious  interest  in  religion,  which, 
as  yet,  he  did  not  comprehend.  His  political  career  lay  amid 
scenes  agitated  by  the  awakening  of  the  savage  demon  of 
war ;  at  first  stirring  the  blood  of  the  nation  for  fight,  and 
then  maddening  that  blood  with  the  hot  passions  of  conflict. 
Against  all  this,  his  spirit  and  his  prmciples,  derived  perhaps 

resolved  that  I  would  no  longer  continue  in  practical  ignorance  of  the 
word  of  God.  I  at  once  entered  on  a  more  serious  study  of  it,  and 
thus  far  through  life  have  Continued  that  study  with  increasing 
pleasure." 


168  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

from  early  association  with  the  peace-loving  Friends,  and 
fostered  by  his  own  peace-making  dispositions,  led  him,  with 
unusual  vehemence,  to  protest  on  the  floor  of  Congress.  Pol- 
itics, as  embodied  in  war-making  and  war-waging  measures, 
became  more  and  more  the  loathing  of  his  soul.  His  heart 
sickened  at  the  exhibitions  which  he  beheld,  of  strife,  intrigue, 
and  party  bitterness.  His  difficulty  with  Mr.  Clay,  though 
met  and  averted  with  firmness  and  dignity,  may  well  be 
supposed  to  have  deepened  the  sentiment,  already  settling 
down  into  his  nature,  of  utter  aversion  to  political  life,  as 
distinguished  from  political  scie?ice.  In  the  longings  of  his 
spirit,  he  turned  away  towards  something  quieter  and  more 
loving,  as  better  fitted  to  a  right  disciphne  of  mind  and  a 
rational  enjoyment  of  life.  His  first  thoughts  seem  to  have 
been  of  union  with  the  Church  by  compliance  with  its  out- 
ward forms,  in  connection,  it  is  true,  with  some  creditable 
measure  of  his  former  habits  of  easy  conformity  with  the 
world.  Even  these  thoughts,  however,  brought  him,  more 
directly  than  ever,  into  secret  intercourse  with  himself;  and, 
ere  he  was  aware  of  it,  the  Holy  Spirit  was  leading  him 
down,  below  outward,  visible  forms,  into  deep,  inner  expe- 
riences. 

Doubtless,  there  was  much  in  his  condition  favorable  to 
some  new  development  of  character.  A  man  in  Congress, 
who  cannot  grow  fond  of  its  business  and  excitements,  will 
very  likely  be  driven  into  himself,  or  towards  some  form  of 
life  different  from  those  around  him.  This  tendency  in  Mr. 
Milnor's  case  was  even  pecuharly  strong.  Peacefully  and 
domestically  attempered  as  he  was,  he  was  yet  compelled  to 
hear  war  thundering  almost  at  the  gates  of  the  capitol,  and 
politics  filling  every  place  with  its  din  of  angry  Avords.  Home, 
too,  with  its  endearments,  to  him  peculiarly  dear,  was  far 
away  ;  and  even  the  fashionable  amusements  of  Washington, 
however  agreeable  in  themselves  to  his  old,  long-cherished 
tastes,  were  so  identified  with  tlie  actors  and  the  actings  of 
the  strifeful  scene  around  him,  that  he  grew  more  and  more 


RELIGIOUS  CHANaE.  169 

sated  and  incapable  of  finding  in  them  what  his  earnest  long- 
higs  asked.  Hence,  his  own  private  chamber  became  the 
place  of  his  frequentest  resort,  and  books  and  thought  his 
pleasantest  entertainments.  The  very  wearisomeness  of  the 
outer  world  drove  him  into  the  home  of  his  own  mind,  and 
to  the  company  of  his  own  reflections ;  and,  considering  the 
current  of  his  thoughts  before  he  entered  Congress,  it  is  not 
surprising,  that  the  influences  by  which  he  was  now  sur- 
rounded, led  him  into  meditation  on  those  aspects  of  religion 
which  had  hitherto  lain  nearest  his  view,  its  outtvard  msti- 
tutions.  But  there  the  train  of  tendencies  must  have  stopped, 
or  turned,  had  there  not  been  a  higher  impelling  and  guiding 
power.  That  power  was  not  absent.  Far  back  in  his  soul, 
behind  the  disgusts  and  longings  which  he  felt ;  deep  in  his 
heart,  underneath  the  movements  and  tendencies  to  which 
he  yielded,  the  Holy  Spirit  was  doing  his  own  proper  work. 
AYhile  the  weary  congressman  was  thinking  of  union  with 
the  outward  Church,  that  divine  Agent  opened  his  heart  to 
a  sight  and  a  sense  of  his  sins  ;  uncovered  and  touched  the 
sore  which  self-delusion  had  so  long  been  hiding ;  stripped 
him  of  every  remnant  of  his  old  self- righteousness ;  showed 
him  his  utter  inability  to  save  himself  by  any  work  or  merit 
of  liis  own ;  opened,  as  though  at  his  left  hand,  a  door  into 
the  world  of  woe,  through  which,  for  a  moment,  came  up 
low  but  deep  whisperings  of  the  wrath  and  misery  which  he 
had  deserved  ;  and  then,  closing  the  dismal  pit,  and  opening 
golden  portals  at  the  right,  led  him  gently  on,  till  he  stood 
more  and  more  fully  in  the  light  of  the  love  of  Christ, 
and  felt  his  whole  soul  drawn  and  bound  to  the  glorious  Re- 
deemer by  responsive  gratitude  and  praise  :  in  a  word,  till 
he  learned  to  love  Jesus  for  his  own  sake  and  lovehness  ; 
and  religion,  because  he  saw  in  it  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  and 
found  in  it  so  deep  a  spring  of  pure  and  heavenly  joy. 

This,  doubtless,  by  those  who  have  read  the  foregoing 
pages,  will  be  recognized  as,  though  a  condensed,  yet  a  true 
history  of  the  process  by  which  the  mind  of  Mihior  was  led 

Mem.  Milnor.  8 


170  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

frpm  its  earlier  darkness  and  hostility  to  the  truth,  to  its  later 
light  and  love  for  Him  who  is  the  truth.  He  knew  well 
what  is  meant  by  deep  convictions  of  sin  and  of  his  own  de- 
servings  of  everlasting  death  ;  and  yet  he  was,  in  an  eminent 
sense,  drawn  to  Christ  by  the  power  of  love.  He  felt  the 
terrors  of  wrath ;  but  he  yielded  to  "  the  attractions  of 
THE  Cross."  In  his  case,  the  most  powerful  teachings  of 
the  Father  were  given  in  the  light  of  love ;  and  in  the  light 
of  love  the  offices  of  the  Son  stood  most  winningly  manifest. 
Hence,  the  character  into  which  he  was  formed,  was  one  of 
ardent  love  for  Christ,  and  of  realized  loYefro?n  Christ.  He 
felt  much,  because  he  had  received  much,  of  that  love  which 
is  unspeakable,  in  that  it  "  passeth  knowledge."  These  were 
the  earlier  rudiments  of  his  Christian  character ;  and  they 
came  out  in  all  its  after-growth  and  combinations,  amid  the 
changes  and  the  trials  of  life.  He  was  from  the  first  a  lov- 
i7ig  disciple ;  and  all  his  further  activities  were  truly  the 

*•  LABOR  OF  LOVE." 


HIS  MINISTEY.  171 

PAET  III. 

DR.  MILNOR'S  MINISTRY  FHOM   1814  TO   1830. 


SECTION   I. 

Mr.  Milnor's  ultimate  dislike  of  legal  practice  was  more 
a  principle  than  a  sentiment,  as  his  distaste  for  political  life 
was  rather  feeling  than  judgment.  He  loathed  political  life, 
because  he  saw  it  steeped  in  so  much  strife  and  corruption 
on  the  part  of  others :  he  dreaded  the  practice  of  the  law, 
because  he  saw  it  would  be  dangerous  to  his  own  new-born 
faith  and  hope.  He  abandoned  political  life,  because  his 
soul  was  sick  of  its  unprincipled  demagoguism  :  he  shrunk 
from  the  renewed  practice  of  the  law,  because  his  conscience 
was  afraid  of  what  seemed  its  almost  necessary  dishonesty. 
He  could  have  loved  politics,  had  politicians  been  all  fair 
men  and  true  ;  he  could  not  have  been  satisfied  with  the 
practice  of  the  law,  unless  the  very  principles  of  that  prac- 
tice, as  too  generally  held,  had  been  reformed.  Hence,  so 
soon  as  he  found,  clustering  in  his  heart,  evidences  that  he 
was  indeed  become  a  new-born  child  of  God,  he  came  to  the 
simultaneous  conclusions,  that  he  would  not  continue  in 
political  life  if  he  could,  and  that  he  could  not  resume  the 
practice  of  the  law  if  he  would.  His  heart  leaped  to  get 
away  from.  Congress  ;  his  judgment  dreaded  a  return  to  the 
bar.  'No  sooner,  therefore,  was  the  great  question  for  eter- 
nity settled,  than  uprose  a  subordinate  question  for  time : 
How  should  he  spend  the  remainder  of  his  life  ?  Upon  what 
new  course  of  action  and  of  usefulness  did  duty  now  call  him 
to  enter?  During  his  last  weeks  in  Washington,  a  dimly 
traced  shadow  from  his  future  profession  seemed  to  fall  upon 


172.  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

his  mind,  but  it  soon  passed  off;  and  it  was  not  till  after  his 
return  to  Philadelphia  that  it  reappeared.  There,  however, 
its  reappearance  was  in  clear  and  distinct  outlines,  because 
he  stood  in  stronger  light  and  nearer  the  reality  from  which 
the  shadow  fell.  A  thought,  that  he  might  be  called  to 
preach  the  gospel,  glided,  for  a  moment,  into  his  mind  while 
at  the  capital,  and  then  flitted  out  again ;  but  when  he 
reached  home,  it  came  back  and  settled  with  him,  and  grew 
into  a  big  conviction,  and  got  to  be  imperative,  and  finally 
ordered  him,  as  by  a  voice  from  God,  to  go  his  way,  put  his 
hand  to  the  plough,  and  never  look  back,  till  he  should  have 
sowed  and  reaped — till,  from  the  harvest  in  eternity,  he 
could  remember  and  rejoice  over  his  going  forth  to  the  work 
in  time.  Upon  that  portion  of  his  life,  spent  in  obedience 
to  this  divine  behest,  we  are  now  to  enter.  It  commenced 
when  he  was  about  closing  his  fortieth  year. 

His  decision  in  favor  of  the  work  of  the  ministry  as  his 
future  profession,  seems  to  have  followed  very  closely  his 
return  to  Philadelphia.  He  left  Washington  the  9th  of 
March,-  1813,  and  on  the  3d  of  April  "waited  on  Bishop 
"White,  and  acquainted  him  with  his  determination  to  relin- 
quish the  profession  of  the  law,  and  with  the  views  which 
he  entertained  of  entering  on  the  study  of  divinity."  On 
the  5th,  he  announced  the  same  determination  to  his  friend 
and  pastor  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kemper,  and  on  the  7th  applied, 
through  Bishop  White,  to  the  standing  committee  of  the 
diocese,  for  admission  as  a  candidate  for  orders  ;  having  al- 
ready, as  he  remarks  in  his  communication,  *'  entered  upon 
the  course  of  studies  preparatory  thereto,  as  directed  by  the 
Plouse  of  Bishops." 

Illustrative  of  his  period  of  study,  from  the  spring  of 
1813  to  the  summer  of  1814,  several  passages  in  his  diary 
and  letters  will  here  be  inserted.  The  first  will  show  by 
what  feehngs  his  mind  was  agitated  when  he  came,  amid 
old  friends  and  associates  in  Philadelpliia,  amid  the  scenes 
of  his  former  gayeties  and  the  clusteruig  of  his  former  niter- 


HIS  MINISTRY.  173 

ests,  to  the  practical  task  of  puLlicly  announcing  his  total 
change  of  religious  views,  and  his  proposed  change  of  pro- 
fessional pursuits.  The  hold  of  fixed  habits  m  gay  society 
upon  one  of  its  cherished  votaries,  and  of  flattering  prospects 
of  honor  and  emolument  upon  one  of  their  favorite  candi- 
dates, was  seldom  stronger,  or  called  for  greater  firmness  ol 
soul  in  order  to  their  breaking,  than  in  the  case  of  him 
v/hose  character  and  course  we  have  been  tracing.  He  felt 
deeply  the  power  of  the  associations  by  which  he  was  be- 
girt. There  was  a  sacrifice  to  be  made,  a  cross  to  be  taken 
up,  and  he  realized  how  heavy,  to  mere  nature,  they  were 
to  prove  ;  but  he  also  found  how  light,  to  the  power  of 
grace,  they  may  be  made,  and  rejoiced  in  giving  up,  for 
Christ's  sake,  all  that  forty  years  of  intense  existence  had 
made  most  attractive  to  his  heart.  He  writes,  in  his  diary, 
under  date  of 

"  April  2,  1813. — It  is  some  time  since  distant  prospects 
of  entering  the  mhiistry  have  glanced  across  my  mental  vis- 
ion. A  sense  of  my  unworthiness  of  so  high  a  calling,  in 
respect  to  the  qualifications  both  of  head  and  of  heart,  has, 
however,  soon  obscured  them ;  until,  more  recently,  an 
abiding  impression  of  duty  has  pointed  me  to  the  assump- 
tion of  this  cross  as  on  my  part  indispensable.  My  decision, 
therefore,  can  be  no  longer  delayed.  I  resign,  I  trust  cheer- 
fully, all  prospects  of  fame,  fortune,  and  worldly  pleasure,  to 
enlist  myself  as  a  soldier  under  the  Captain  of  my  salvation; 
and  trust  in  his  support  to  aid  me  in  every  trial  and  conflict 
to  wdiich  this  measure,  so  strange  and  unexpected  to  my 
friends,  will  expose  me.  It  were  idle,  however,  to  conceal 
either  from  myself  or  from  others,  the  conflicts  through 
which  my  mind  has  passed  in  reaching  this  result.  The 
natural  man  assents  not  readily  to  sacrifices  of  wealth,  am- 
bition, style  of  living,  acquaintances,  and  a  thousand  other 
ligaments  which  tie  him  to  the  Avorld  and  its  enjoyments. 
But  through  God's  grace,  I  hope  to  overcome  the  world,  and 
wiUingly  to  reUnquish  every  thing  that  may  come  in  con- 


174  MEirOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

flict  with  the  work  of  religion  in  my  own  heart,  or  the 
improvement  of  such  humble  means  as  the  Lord  may  voiich- 
sale  me  of  being  useful  to  others. 

"  Nevertheless,  0  God,  let  me  presume  on  nothing  in 
my  own  strength.  Grant  me  the  all-sufficient  aids  of  thy 
Holy  Spirit ;  and  enable  me  thereby,  when  I  shall  have  laid 
my  hand  to  the  plough,  to  look  not  back,  but  to  follow  the 
leadings  of  the  heavenly  Guide,  and  become,  if  not  a  highly 
useful,  at  least  a  truly  faithful  laborer  in  the  vineyard  of 
Christ.  I  ask  it  in  his  name,  and  for  his  blessed  merit's 
sake.     Amen." 

He  evidently  felt  that  now,  of  a  truth,  he  was  at  the 
great  turning-point  of  his  life  ;  and  every  step  which  he  took 
was  with  much  pondering  of  liis  way,  and  with  much  prayer 
for  guidance. 

"  I  have,"  he  writes,  "  crosses  and  trials  to  meet  m  ful- 
fdling  my  intentions ;  but  the  Lord,  in  whom  I  trust,  and 
whom  I  desire  to  serve,  will  support  me  in  them  all,  if  I 
steadily  maintain  my  faithfulness  towards  him.  Yes,  blessed 
God,  my  confidence  is  in  thee  only.  0  enable  me  to  perse- 
vere manfully  in  the  work  which  thou  hast  assigned  me. 
Enlighten  my  mind  with  a  knowledge  of  thy  truth,  and  en- 
due it  with  ability,  when  the  time  shall  come,  to  communi- 
cate that  truth  to  others  ;  and  0,  gracious  Father,  grant 
that,  if  it  should  be  thy  will  to  prolong  my  life  until  the  al- 
lotted term  of  preparation  for  the  ministry  of  thy  word  shall 
elapse,  I  may  be  enabled  to  preach  thy  gospel  in  its  own 
purity  ;  and  that,  while  I  warn  others,  I  may  not  myself 
become  a  castaway.  Give  me  solemn  views  of  the  immense 
importance  and  responsibility  of  the  office  on  which  I  pur- 
pose to  enter.  Grant  me  the  refreshings  of  thy  Spirit  from 
day  to  day.  Open  to  me  more  and  more  the  mysteries  of 
thy  word ;  and  forbid,  merciful  God,  that  I  should  either 
hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness,  or  in  any  manner  mistake 
the  meaning  and  intention  of  the  divine  oracles.  Grant  me 
mental  activity  and  persevering  diligence  in  the  acquisition 


HIS  MINISTRY.  175 

of  religious  knowledge  ;  ability  profitably  to  digest  whatever 
I  may  read  or  Hear ;  and  both  the  disposition  of  heart  and 
the  capacity  of  mind  to  render  all  my  attainments  beneficial 
to  myself  and  others.  But,  0  God,  in  a  more  special  man- 
ner keep  me  constantly  and  fervently  affected  with  love  for 
thee  and  thy  dear  Son  ;  fill  me  with  brighter  and  more  evan- 
gelical views  of  the  greatness  of  that  salvation,  wrought  out 
by  Him  for  perishing  sinners  ;  and  fix  indelibly  on  my  mind 
the  determination  to  know  only  Jesus  Christ  and  him  cruci- 
fied. May  the  great  atonement,  and  the  divine  character  of 
the  blessed  Saviour,  be  prominent  objects  of  my  daily  con- 
templations ;  and  may  I  count  all  things  but  loss  for  the 
excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord. 
Strengthen  my  faith  in  the  all- sufficiency  of  his  blood  and 
cross  for  the  salvation  of  sinners  ;  and  when  utterance  shall 
be  given  in  his  righteous  cause,  0  enable  me  to  hold  him 
forth  as  a  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  in  such  a 
manner  as  may  induce  many  to  accept  his  merits,  to  exer- 
cise a  lively  faith  in  him  as  a  Saviour,  and  to  renounce  for 
ever  the  filthy  rags  of  their  own  righteousness  for  that  wed- 
ding-garment of  the  Lamb,  which  can  alone  qualify  them  to 
be  guests  at  the  marriage-supper  provided  for  the  redeemed 
of  God  in  the  blood  of  Christ." 

A  truly  appropriate  prayer  to  be  left  lying  on  record 
amid  the  trials  of  the  period  in  which  he  broke  from  the 
entanglements  of  human  law,  and  sought  seclusion  for  the 
study  of  the  divine  counsels.  Meditating  the  work  of  the 
Christian  ministry  with  such  views  and  aspirations,  and  under 
the  pressure  of  those  all-constraining  motives  which  his 
spirit  felt,  his  subsequent  abounding  usefulness  was  but  a 
result  of  God's  faithfulness  to  his  gracious  promises. 

At  the  time  of  his  entry,  April  5,  we  find  him  engaged 
"  in  secular  concerns,"  but  not  without  minghng  therewith 

an  eflbrt  to  do  good  to  his  friend  J S ,  whom  he 

found  to  be  "feeling  somewhat  after  religion."  He  also 
records  an  account,  "  as  singular  as  it  was  pleasing,"  of  tiie 


176  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

conversion  of  L M ,  "  an  eminent  lawyer  in  Balti- 
more, advanced  in  years,  who  had  been  equally  celebrated 
for  his  powerful  eloquence  at  the  bar,  and  for  his  notorious 
sacrifices  at  the  shrine  of  Bacchus."  After  noticing  tliis 
man's  appearance  at  a  public  religious  meeting,  where  he 
engaged  in  exhortation  and  prayer,  in  a  manner  "  which  for 
fervor  and  sublimity  astonished  all  Avho  heard  him,"  the 
adoring  diarist  exclaims,  "  Thanks  be  to  God,  liis  power  is 
infinite.  He  shows  mercy  where  he  will  show  mercy,  and 
can  as  easily  convert  the  flinty  heart  of  the  oldest  and  most 
obdurate  offender,  as  the  soft  and  tender  one  of  the  most 
willing  and  yielding  suppliant  at  the  throne  of  grace.  Glory 
be  to  God  for  the  riches  of  his  grace  in  Christ  Jesus." 

Amid  the  incessant  activities  which  now  engrossed  him, 
we  hear  nothing  further  from  him  till,  in  the  settlement  of 
his  temporal  all  airs,  he  was  ready  to  leave  Philadelphia  for 
Norristown,  where  he  purposed  to  pursue  his  studies.  He 
then  felt  that  his  severance  from  the  world,  so  far  as  out- 
ward associations  were  concerned,  was  complete,  and  was 
enabled  to  look  back  upon  what  }ie  was  leaving  without  a 
sigh.  "The  separation,"  says  his  diary  for  June  1,  "from 
so  many  objects  of  attachment,  I  am  thanliful  to  God,  has 
not  cost  me  many  pangs.  To  my  beloved  partner,  it  has 
been  a  more  severe  trial ;  but  her  mind  at  length  acquiesces 
more  cheerfully  than  I  could  have  expected  ;  and  when  once 
we  shall  be  quietly  seated  in  our  new  abode,  I  have  no  doubt 
she  will  be  better  pleased,  than  she  has  been  with  the  gayety 
and  frivolity  of  a  city  life." 

Having  taken  possession  of  their  new  abode,  he  proceeded 
to  record  a  suitable  act  of  dedication,  in  which,  amid  the 
hallowing  strains  of  prayer,  he  consecrated  himself,  his  house- 
hold, and  his  little  study,  to  Him  whom  he  had  covenanted 
to  serve.  Bending  in  that  quiet  retreat  which  was  to  witness 
his  sacred  toils,  we  may  easily  conceive  with  what  fervor  he 
poured  forth  his  heart's  dedicatory  act,  in  the  following  fer- 
vent but  chastened  strain. 


HIS  MINISTRY.  177 

"  Vouchsafe,  0  God,  thy  special  presence  and  direction  in 
all  the  exercises  in  which  I  may  here  from  time  to  time  be 
occupied.  Aflbrd  the  aids  of  thy  Holy  Spirit  in  every  act  of 
devotion,  that  so  I  may  learn  to  pray  aright,  and  offer  thee 
the  unadulterated  homage  of  the  heart.  Open  thou  my 
understanding,  that  I  may  understand  the  Scriptures.  Chase 
away  every  rising  doubt  incited  by  the  subtlety  of  the 
Tempter.  Banish  error,  unbelief,  and  every  unhallowed 
thought  from  this  place.  Teach  me  to  know,  and  reverence, 
and  love  thee  with  all  the  faculties  of  my  heart  and  mind, 
and  to  hate  sin  and  all  its  defilements  with  a  perfect  hatred. 
Cleanse  me  from  all  my  impurities,  keep  down  rebellious 
passions,  and  arm  me  with  strength  efiectually  to  resist  every 
temptation  from  without  and  from  within,  I  desire,  0  mer- 
ciful God,  to  consecrate  myself  unreservedly  to  thee  and  thy 
service.  But  I  am  humbled  and  abased  at  my  own  unwor- 
thiness  of  the  least  of  thy  favors,  and  my  inability  to  make 
thee  any  adequate  return.  Yet,  through  Christ,  my  weak- 
ness may  be  made  strength,  and  the  imperfect  performances 
of  an  imbecile  and  sinful  creature  may  be  accepted  for  the 
infinite  merit's  sake  of  the  blessed  Redeemer.  For  his  sake, 
then,  0  merciful  Father,  accept  of  me  and  mine  ;  make  us 
happy  in  the  smiles  of  thy  countenance  here,  and  elevate  us 
hereafter  to  the  joys  of  thy  heavenly  kingdom." 

Having  thus  appropriately  set  in  order  both  his  outer  and 
his  inner  house,  he  proceeded,  on  the  following  day,  to  settle 
the  course  in  which  his  daily  duties  should  proceed.  Though 
constitutionally  inclined  to  system,  he  had  yet  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  reduce  either  the  labors  of  legal  practice,  or  the  pur- 
suits of  legal  study,  to  any  thing  like  invariable  rule.  He 
felt  that  his  mind  needed  stricter  discipline,  and  resolved,  at 
this  important  crisis  of  his  life,  to  make  an  effort  to  bring  it 
under  the  power  of  fixed  habits  of  thought  and  application  ; 
knowing  that  if  he  were  ever  to  feel  the  benefits  of  such  a 
disciplhie,  now  was  his  best,  if  not  his  only  time  to  insure 
them. 

8^' 


178  MEMOIR  OF  DU.  MILNOR. 

But  systematic  study,  in  connection  with  necessary  busi- 
ness, was  not  the  only  occupation  of  his  retired  life.  He 
endeavored  to  gain  some  practical  acquaintance  with  pastoral 
duty.  Hence,  he  not  only  engaged  as  lay-reader  and  cate- 
chist  in  St.  John's,  Norristown,  but  also  availed  himself  of 
his  vicinity  to  the  parish  church  of  the  E-ev.  Levi  Bull,  a 
cousin  of  Mrs.  Milnor,  to  become  familiar  with  other  forms 
of  parochial  usefulness.     He  writes,  under  date  of 

"June  21,  1813. — I  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  to 
Mr.  Bull,  with  w^hom  I  spent  the  evening  of  Saturday,  and 
the  whole  of  Sunday.  Sunday  morning,  at  8  o'clock,  we 
went  to  St.  Mary's  church,  in  the  vicinity  of  Mr.  Bull's  resi- 
dence ;  and  found  a  considerable  number  of  people  assembled 
to  attend  a  iirayer-meeting,  which  is  held  during  the  summer 
season  for  one  hour  before  the  regular  service  of  the  morning 
begins.  The  exercises  consist  of  prayers  by  the  pastor  and 
different  members  of  the  church,  offered  extemporaneously, 
and  accompanied  with  singing  and  a  short  exhortation.  For 
the  first  time  ^V^  imhUc,  I  was  induced,  at  Mr.  Bull's  solici- 
tation, to  address  the  throne  of  grace.  I  felt  the  presence  of 
that  God  who,  when  two  or  three  are  assembled  in  his  name, 
has  promised  to  be  in  the  midst  of  them ;  and  was  much 
refreshed  in  the  inner  man  by  the  various  services  of  the  fore- 
noon, as  well  as  by  those  of  the  afternoon  at  Churchtown,  to 
which  place,  distant  eight  miles,  I  rode  with  Mr.  Bull." 

His  services  as  catechist  and  lay-reader  were  soon  inter- 
rupted by  a  dangerous  illness.  Having  taken  a  journey  into 
Virginia,  and  returned,  first  to  Norristown  and  then  to  Phil- 
adelphia, lie  thus  writes,  under  date  of 

"  Nov.  17,  1813.— The  sedentary  life  which  I  had  passed 
at  Norristown,  had  unfitted  me  for  exercise  of  so  constant 
and  severe  a  kind  as  that  which  I  used  during  my  fortnight's 
absence  ;  and  the  consequence  was,  that  I  became  indisposed 
on  my  way  home,  and  the  night  of  my  arrival  I  was  taken 
seriously  ill.  My  complaint  at  first  appeared  to  be  a  nervouff 
debility  without  fever,  and  so  continued  for  a  fortnight,  when 


HIS  MINISTRY.  179 

it  assumed  the  type  of  an  intermittent,  and  after  some  time 
was  accompanied  with  a  most  distressing  bowel-complamt, 
which  lasted  for  eight  weeks,  and  brought  me  to  the  verge 
of  the  grave.  Soon  after  I  became  convalescent,  Mrs.  Milnor 
was  attacked  with  the  same  complaints ;  and  when  appar- 
ently recovering,  relapsed  into  so  low  a  state  as  to  be  despair- 
ed of  by  her  physician  and  friends.  Her  illness  lasted  about 
the  same  time  as  my  own.  But,  for  ever  praised  be  the 
adorable  Giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift — the  God  of 
our  lives,  and  the  Saviour  of  our  souls — '  though  he  has 
chastened  us,  yet  he  hath  not  given  us  over  unto  death.  ^  We 
shall  yet  live  to  praise  the  name  of  the  Lord.' 

"  In  a  review  of  this  providence  of  Almighty  God,  I  desire 
to  be  humbled  under  a  deeper  sense  of  his  justice  as  well  as 
mercy.  That  my  sins  deserved  such  an  infliction  of  divine 
correction,  I  submissively  acknowledge ;  that  I  am  wholly 
undeserving  of  the  sparing  mercy  which  has  continued  my 
life  and  that  of  my  beloved  partner,  I  most  sensibly  feel ; 
and  that  our  dear  children  have  been  preserved  in  life  and 
health,  is  a  cause  of  unceasing  thankfulness.  '  What  shall 
I  render  unto_  the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits  towards  me  ?  I 
will  take  the  cup  of  salvation,  and  call  upon  the  name  of 
the  Lord.' 

*'  Since  the  recovery  of  Mrs.  Milnor  and  myself,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  great  desire  on  her  part  to  return  to  the  city, 
and  a  belief  on  my  own,  that  it  would  tend  to  the  advance- 
ment of  my  studies  and  to  my  growth  in  spiritual  improve- 
ment, I  have  taken  a  house  in  Tenth-street,  near  Arch,  into 
which  I  have  now  removed  my  family.  The  afflicting  dis- 
pensation through  which  I  have  passed,  and  my  beloved 
Ellen's  long  and  dangerous  illness  since,  have  interrupted 
my  regular  plan  of  study  ;  and  I  am  now  only  about  to 
resume  it.  God  grant  that  I  may  do  so  in  his  fear,  and  with 
a  sincere  desire  to  proceed  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  to  be  preserved  from  all  false  doctrines  ;  to  advance 
in  piety  towards  God,  and  in  love  to  my  fellow -men ;  and 


180  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

steadily  to  keep  in  view  the  blessed  Jesus,  as  '  the  Author 
and  Finisher  of  the  faith'  set  forth  in  the  gospel." 

During  his  journey  hito  Virginia,  letters  reached  his  resi- 
dence at  Norristown,  earnestly  soliciting  his  acceptance,  or 
his  promise  to  accept,  of  two  important  parishes  ;  the  one  at 
Baltimore,  the  other  at  Richmond.  He  embraced  what  he 
supposed  to  be  '*  the  first  moment  of  returning  strengtJi' — 
though  it  proved  to  be  but  an  intermission  of  his  disease,  and 
was  followed  by  all  its  most  perilous  stages — to  return  the 
following  answers. 

To  Mr.  Coales,  Baltimore. 

"Norristown,  August  4,  1813. 

"  My  dear  Sir — I  returned  yesterday  week  from  a  long 
journey,  so  much  indisposed  as  to  compel  me  to  keep  my  bed 
almost  continually  since,  and  to  disable  me  from  either  read- 
ing or  writing.  I  embrace  the  first  moment  of  returning 
strength,  though  with  a  feeble  hand,  to  answer  your  kind 
letter  of  the  25th  ult.,  and  sincerely  to  thank  you  and  the 
other  gentlemen  of  our  communion  in  Baltimore,  for  the  very 
flattering  offer  of  so  respectable  a  situation  as  that  which  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Beasley's  removal  to  Philadelphia  has  left  vacant. 

"  On  a  subject  of  so  much  importance,  I  shall  be  glad  of 
an  opportunity  of  consulting  with  our  venerable  diocesan,  to 
whose  friendship  I  am  greatly  indebted,  and  without  confer- 
ring with  whom  I  should  hesitate,  at  this  stage  of  my  prog- 
ress towards  ordination,  to  take  any  decisive  step  in  regard 
to  a  settlement.  He  has  more  than  once  intimated,  m  the 
most  afl'ectionate  manner,  that  he  calculated  on  my  remain- 
ing in  his  diocese  ;  and  many  of  my  friends  in  Philadelphia 
speak  in  very  determinate  terms,  of  the  expectation  there  that 
my  labors  should  be  commenced  among  them.  With  respect 
to  myself,  as  my  views  in  proposing  to  enter  the  ministry 
have,  so  far  as  I  know  my  own  heart,  no  selfish  considera- 
tions mingled  with  them,  I  am  willing  to  render  my  little 
portion  of  service  to  the  cause  of  religion  wherever  the  prov- 


HIS   MINISTHY.  181 

idence  of  God  may  seem  to  direct.  My  present  impressions, 
however,  are,  that  it  would  conduce  neither  to  the  good  of 
the  church,  nor  to  my  future  usefulness,  to  undertake  the 
duties  of  a  reader  and  continue  them  for  so  long  a  period  as 
will  elapse  before,  according  to  the  canon,  I  can  expect  ordi- 
nation. A  year  from  my  annunciation  as  a  candidate  will 
not  have  expired  till  the  middle  of  April  next.  For  the 
intermediate  time,  1  have  removed  to  this  pleasant  little 
village,  among  Mrs.  Milnor's  friends,  where  I  am  retired  from 
all  bustle,  and  have  very  much  the  uninterrupted  command 
of  my  own  time,  except  as  my  attention  is,  now  and  then, 
unavoidably  engaged  in  the  winding  up  of  my  professional 
and  other  concerns  in  the  city  ;  which,  indeed,  for  some  time 
to  come,  require  me  to  be  within  convenient  distance  of"  my 
successor  in  the  law.  I  have  also,  at  the  request  of  the 
vestry  of  a  new  parish  in  this  place,  consented,  under  a 
license  from  the  bishop,  to  officiate  as  a  lay-reader  for  them 
during  the  time  of  my  stay  ;  so  that,  all  things  considered,  a 
change  of  my  situation,  at  present,  would  be  attended  with 
considerable  inconvenience. 

"  Another  very  important  consideration  affects  my  mind  : 
and  that  is,  the  apparently  unbecoming  presumption  of  a 
candidate  for  orders,  in  anticipating  his  duties  in  a  place  of 
so  much  importance  as  your  city,  and  perhaps  standing  in  the 
way  of  a  regular  clergyman,  who  would  be  more  acceptable, 
and  to  whom  the  situation  might  be  very  desirable.  In 
short,  after  repeating  my  thanks  for  your  kind  intentions,  I 
have  to  express  my  wish  that  you  may  be  successful  in  find- 
ing a  faithful  pastor,  of  better  qualifications  than  myself,  to 
take  at  once  full  charge  of  the  church,  and  prevent  the  incon- 
veniences of  such  a  plan  as  that  which  you  have  suggested. 
I  thhdt  it,  however,  due  to  so  unexpected  and  friendly  an 
intimation  to  say,  that  I  will  avail  myself  of  the  first  oppor- 
tunity, after  God  shall  be  pleased  to  restore  my  health,  to 
speak  with  Dr.  White  and  one  of  two  other  friends  upon  the 
subject ;  but  beg  that  I  may  not,  in  the  meantime,  stand  in 


182  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

the  way  of  any  arrangement  for  the  welfare  of  your  church, 
that  Providence  may  offer  to  your  acceptance. 
"  "With  affectionate  regard,  yours  sincerely, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

The  letter  which  he  next  answered,  was  from  a  clergy- 
man of  Alexandria,  who  appears  to  have  written  in  behalf 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  congregation  in  Richmond,  over 
which  Mr.  Miluor  was  urged  to  think  of  a  settlement. 

To   the   Rev.  Oliver   Norris. 

"NoRRlSTOWN,  August,  1813. 

"  My  dear  Sir — I  thank  you  very  sincerely  for  your 
affectionate  letter  of  the  14th  ult.,  to  which  I  should  have 
made  an  earlier  answer ;  but,  at  the  time  of  its  arrival  here, 
I  was  absent  on  a  journey  of  a  fortnight,  from  which  I  re- 
turned about  twelve  days  ago,  so  much  indisposed  as,  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  since,  to  have  been  confined  to  my 
bed.  My  sickness  is  still  such  as  will  oblige  me  to  write  this 
short  letter  with  many  intervals  of  rest. 

"  You  appreciate  justly  my  motives  in  venturing,  as  I 
humbly  trust  iinder  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  take 
upon  me  a  portion  of  the  ministry  of  reconciliation.  '  I  am 
as  a  wonder  unto  many,'  who,  unacquainted  either  with  the 
duty  of  submission  to  the  manifested  will  of  God,  or  with  the 
operations  of  divine  grace  upon  the  renewed  mind,  whereby 
alone  true  Christian  obedience  can  be  produced,  are  aston- 
ished at  my  voluntary  surrender  of  a  lucrative  practice,  of 
associations  of  the  most  varied  and  attractive  kind,  and  of 
encouraging  prospects  of  public  honor  and  distinction.  Yet, 
strange  as  it  seems  to  them,  to  me  not  one  relinquished  object 
of  former  attachment  occasions  the  smallest  regret.  But  it 
is  a  source  of  painful  reflection  to  me,  that  so  much  of  a  short 
lifetime  has  been  so  unprofitably  spent,  and  that  I  am  now 
able  to  make  an  offering  to  God  of  the  small  remnant  only 
of  my  days,  when  the  whole  ought  to  have  been  his. 

"  With  respect  to  the  future  sphere  of  my  labors,  my  best 


HIS  MmiSTRY.  183 

reflections  and  the  advice  of  friends  have  led  me  to  postpone, 
for  the  present,  any  decisive  determination.  My  probation- 
ary year  will  not  expire  till  the  middle  of  April  next ;  and 
there  seems  a  want  of  delicacy  towards  the  proper  authorities 
of  the  church,  in  anticipating  their  decision  upon  my  quali- 
fications, of  which  every  day's  experience  opens  a  humbler 
view  to  myself;  or  in  entering  into  engagements  at  present 
which  circumstances  hereafter  may  render  it  diflicult,  per- 
haps impracticable,  to  fulfil. 

"  I  trust  I  shall  not  be  so  misunderstood  as  to  be  supposed 
to  set  a  light  value  upon  so  very  respectable  a  proposition  as 
that  of  a  settlement  at  Richmond,  if,  besides  the  general 
reason  above  stated  for  now  withholding  a  decision,  I  were 
to  add,  that,  honorable  as  the  post  will  be,  an4  extensive 
as  may  be  the  good  tp  be  done  by  him  who  fills  it,  I  doubt 
whether  it  is  adapted  to  my  opinions  or  habits.  My  im- 
pressions against  slavery  were  early  and  deep  ;  and,  with 
my  present  views  of  the  universality  of  divine  love,  they  are 
strengthened  and  rendered  unalterable.  I  do  not  think  I 
ought  to  go  voluntarily  into  the  midst  of  it,  and  perhaps 
become,  from  necessity,  a  partaker  in  it. 

"  There  is  also,  I  understand,  at  Richmond,  a  fashiona- 
ble gayety  of  manners  and  disposition,  far  exceeding  the 
general  style  of  those  to  which  I  have  been  accustomed  in 
Philadelphia,  in  which  it  would  be  painful  for  a  Christian 
minister  to  be  compelled  to  participate,  and  which,  perhaps, 
it  would  be  useless,  nay,  destructive  of  even  partial  useful- 
ness, to  oppose. 

"  To  these  suggestions  I  might,  as  a  subordinate  consid- 
eration, add,  that  the  heats  of  summer  are  extremely  unfa- 
vorable to  my  health  ;  and  that,  even  in  this  cooler  climate, 
I  scarcely  ever  pass  through  July  and  August  without  an 
attack  of  sickness  :  and,  as  a  more  important  item,  might 
again  add,  a  friendly  wish,  more  than  once  expressed  by  our 
venerable  diocesan,  that  I  would  not  leave  this  state  ;  and 
the  kind  and  earnest  requests  of  my  Episcopalian  friends  in 


IS'i  MEilOIE,  OF  DR.  MILNOR 

Pliiladelpliia,  tliat  I  would  remain  in  that  cily,  Avhere  many 
circumstances  lead  to  the  belief"  that  my  poor  cxerlious  may 
be  so  directed  as  to  be  profitable  to  many. 

"  To  every  thing  now  said,  1  should  be  unjust  to  my  own 
feelings  if  I  did  not  add,  still  further,  that  considering  the 
grand  scale  on  which  the  church  in  Richmond  has  been 
commenced,  and  the  expectations  raised  with  res})ect  to  the 
services  to  be  performed  in  it,  the  moderate  estimale  Avhich 
I  am  taught  to  make  of  my  talents  and  acquirements  would 
render  me  apprehensive  of  falling  very  far  below  the  standard 
which  has  been  set  up.  To  the  gay  and  volatile,  '  Christ 
Jesus  and  him  crucified'  is  but  a  dull  and  simple  theme, 
poorly  su])plying  the  place  of  those  flowers  of  rhetoric  and 
charms  of  diction  with  which  genius  delights  to  embellish 
the  merely  moral  theme.  Yet  it  is  my  determi  uat  ion,  through 
grace,  to  preach  nothing  else  to  the  people  whom  (lod,  in  his 
providence,  may  allot  to  my  charge,  than  the  gospel  of  Christ ; 
for  '  I  count  all  thhigs  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  tiie  know- 
ledge of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord  ;'  I  believe  it  to  be  '  the  now  er 
ol'lnd  unto  salvation  U)  every  one  llia1  be'lieveth  ;'  and  that 
tliere  is  great  danger  of  pieachiug'in  such  '  wisilom  of  words 
as  to  make  the  Cross  of"  Christ  of  none  e!iec1.' 

"  In  all  that  1  have  said,  it  is  fir  froni  my  intention  to 
give  oflence.  The  friendly  natnic  dl'  your  et-uununicaiion 
required  thai  1  sliould  de'.ail  .-oiiie  ei' my  reasons  for  doubting 
whether  liichmond  wei-e  an  eligiMe  situation  lor  lue  ;  and  I 
have  done  so.  I  leave  you  to^idge  (d' their  weiglit. 
"With  sentimenis  of  sincere  a:!i'ction, 

"Your  f"aithl"ui  friend  and  bn;llier  in  the  truth, 

■■.i.\M  ,:s   MILNoli." 

Tlicse  loiters  are  interesting,  both  as  the  ])roductions  of 
a  sick  man,  ^•ca^ceiy  ahh'  to  hohl  his  pen,  and  as  proofs  that 
the  good  work'  of  the  S;  irit  in  Iiis  heart  was  in  progress, 
shaping  hiui  more  and  moi'c  perfectly  according  to  tlie  pn.l- 
teiamd'the  true  minister  of  Christ.  To  this  latter  poiut.  all 
the  traces  which  he  h.as  left  of  his  fc(.din!':s  at  the  close  of  his 


HIS  MINISTRY.  185 

long  and  perilous  illness,  bear  a  decided  testimony.  It  is 
particularly  manifest,  that  at  this  time  the  spirit  of  jjrayer  in 
him  was  actively  alive.  It  mingled  in  all  his  engagements, 
and  breathed  through  no  small  part  of  his  diary.     Thus  : 

"Nov.  18,  1813. — The  unsettled  state  of  my  family," 
he  writes,  "  for  some  time  past,  has  prevented  attention  to 
the  interesting  duty  of  family  worship.  My  dear  Ellen's 
state  of  health  now  admitting  of  her  attendance,  and  our 
arrangements  in  a  new  residence  being  made,  I  this  morning 
commenced  prayers,  and  hope  to  continue  them  every  day, 
morning  and  evening.  May  God  give  us  the  aids  of  his 
heavenly  grace  to  perform  this  duty  with  cheerfulness  and 
regularity  ;  to  enter  upon  it,  at  all  times,  with  prepared 
J  warts  and  with  engaged  minds ;  and  to  profit  by  our  daily 
communion  with  him  on  the  throne  of  his  mercy.     Grant, 

0  Almighty  Father,  to  thy  servant,  a  spirit  of  prayer  and 
supplication ;  enable  him  to  pray  with  the  heart  and  with 
the  understanding ;  put  thou,  0  Holy  Spirit,  right  words  into 
his  mouth,  and  grant  that  we  may  never  be  found  offering 
the  sacrifice  of  fools.  0  may  every  member  of  this  family 
rejoice  in  the  privilege  of  access  by  prayer  to  God,  through 
the  blood  and  intercession  of  the  Redeemer,  and  pay  their 
daily  vows,  with  unvarying  fervency  and  zeal,  to  the  blessed 
and  triune  God,  to  whom  be  ascribed  never-ending  praises. 
Amen." 

His  return  to  the  city  enabled  him,  with  increased  expe- 
dition, to  close  the  settlement  of  his  temporal  afiairs,  and  at 
an  earlier  period  k  to  give  his  mind  to  uninterrupted  study. 
He  writes, 

"  Saturday,  Nov.  27, 1813. — My  beloved  partner's  bodily 
health  being  restored,  her  strength  in  some  measure  regained, 
and  many  tcmp&ral  cares,  being  either  removed  or  lessened, 

1  hope,  hereafter,  to  be  more  closely  and  methodically  en- 
gaged in  theological  studies.  My  prayer  to  Almighty  God 
is,  that  I  may  be  enabled  to  pursue  them  with  a  zeal  and 
industry  proportioned  to  their  importance  ;  but  that,  while 


186  '      MEMOIE  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

the  head  is  acquiring  knowledge,  the  heart  may  not  lose  the 
ardor  of  its  aflections ;  its  love  to  God  and  the  Saviour ;  its 
desires  after  more  grace  and  inward  holiness ;  its  unceasing 
gratitude  for  countless  mercies  and  undeserved  blessings  ;  its 
wrestling  with  God  for  their  continuance,  unworthy  as  I  am, 
for  the  Redeemer's  sake  ;  and  its  faith  and  hope  in  his  pre- 
cious sacrifice  and  intercession.  Let  me  not  lose,  0  merciful 
God,  my  convictions  of  sin,  my  hatred  of  its  contaminations, 
my  sense  of  unremitting  dependence  on  thee  for  ability  to 
resist  its  baneful  influence,  and  my  continual  applications  to 
thee  for  thy  support.  Be  thou,  '  0  Lord,  a  shield  for  me,  my 
glory,  and  the  Ufter  up  of  my  head.' 

The  following  letter,  found  among  Dr.  Milnor's  papers, 
though  without  name  or  date,  yet  leaves  no  room  for  doubt 
on  the  question  to  whom  it  was  addressed.  It  was  probably 
written,  whether  earlier  or  later,  about  this  period,  and  is 
therefore  here  introduced.  It  excites  a  somewhat  sad  fore- 
boding as  to  the  close  of  the  religious  life  of  his  old  friend, 
Aquila  M.  Bolton.  And  yet,  who  knows  but  that  this  later 
remonstrance  from  one  whom  that  friend  so  early  warned  of 
the  peril  of  impenitency,  may  have  proved  the  means  of  re- 
awakening his  own  soul,  and  of  saving  him  from  the  peril 
of  apostasy  ?     The  letter  was  as  follows  : 

"  My  dear  Friend — I  have  received  the  first  number  of 
a  miscellany,  of  which  the  well-known  letters  on  the  cover 
apprise  me  you  are  the  editor.  Has  the  long  interruption  of 
epistolary  intercourse  so  far  deadened  our  sensibilities  to  one 
another's  interests,  and  so  completely  estranged  us  from  each 
other,  as  to  preclude  a  free  and  candid  intercommunication 
of  sentiments  ?  I  trust  not.  The  evidence  which  you  have 
just  given  me  that  I  still  live  in  your  remembrance,  and  the 
throbbings  of  my  own  bosom  as  I  am  now  communing  with 
you,  convince  me  that  our  friendship  is  not  dead,  though  it 
has  slept ;  and  it  is  this  persuasion  that  encourages  me  to 
unburden  my  mind  with  the  most  unbounded  frankness. 

"  For  several  years  past  I  have  heard  but  little  of  you 


HIS  MINISTRY.  187 

for  we  had  ceased  to  interchange  letters,  and  I  seldom  met 
with  any  of  your  friends  who  could  tell  me  any  thing  about 
you.  You  have  now  suddenly  risen  to  my  view  in  a  shape 
so  new  and  unexpected  as  greatly  to  surprise  me,  without 
aflbrding  any  of  that  delight  which  those  precious  commu- 
nications— still  preserved  and  frequently  recurred  to — from 
Jersey,  from  Spain,  and  from  Wheeling,  have  afforded.  0, 
my  valued,  my  earliest  friend,  has  your  relish  for  divine 
things  deserted  you  ?  Has  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus, 
once,  as  I  believed,  so  liberally  shed  abroad  in  your  heart, 
waxed  cold  ?  Does  religion  no  longer  court  your  feelings  by 
those  sweet  endearments  in  which  you  once  so  much  delight- 
ed ?  Can  you  have  become  willing  to  relinquish  the  solid 
and  durable  pleasures  of  piety  for  the  light  and  frivolous 
amusements  of  the  day,  even  though  they  court  you  under 
the  mask  of  literature  and  taste  ?  Believe  me,  when  I  look 
at  those  awful  admonitions  with  which  you  once  addressed 
me,  and  in  which  your  whole  concern  was  to  induce  me, 
like  yourself,  to  take  up  the  cross  of  the  Hedeemer,  and  to 
'  count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord ;'  when  I  recollect  my  being  told, 
by  one  of  your  friends,  that  you  had  become  a  public  cham- 
pion of  his  glorious  cause,  and  when  I  look  at  the  title  and 
contemplated  plan  of  your  miscellany — useful  as  some  of  its 
proposed  objects  may,  no  doubt,  be — I  am  at  a  loss  to  decide 
whether  astonishment  or  grief  be  the  predominant  feeling  of 
my  mind.  Not  one  word  in  your  prospectus,  or  in  your  first 
number,  of  Christ  or  his  blessed  religion ;  and  but  a  trivial 
glance  towards  even  onorality,  good  as  the  product  of  the 
Spirit,  but  a  mean  and  barren  substitute  for  genuine  religion. 
Ah,  this,  I  fear,  evinces  too  plainly,  that  you  have  become 
satiated  with  the  fountains  of  '  living  water,'  of  whose  de- 
lightful streams  you  once  partook,  and  have  betaken  yourself 
to  '  cisterns,  broken  cisterns,  that  will  hold  no  water.' 

"  With  such  apprehensions,  permit  an  old  friend,  who  has 
abandoned  the  pursuit  of  the  wealth,  and  honor,  and  pleasures 


188  MEMOIU   OF  DR.  MILXOR. 

of  this  world,  for  the  riches  of  eternity,  the  unfading  honor 
ol"  his  Redeemer's  crown  of  rigliteousness,  and  the  enjoyment 
of  the  hght  of  his  divine  countenance,  to  sohcit  you  to  panse 
and  consider  the  awful  danger  of  apostasy  from  the  laith  of 
Jesus.  Can  it  be  possible  that  he  who  once,  with  so  much 
feeling,  admonished  the  friend — who  now  sincerely  thanks 
him  for,  while  he  reciprocates  the  kindness — of  the  necessity 
of  closing  with  tlie  oilers  of  mercy,  is  willing  to  become  a 
castaway  ?  0  beware,  my  friend,  I  entreat  you,  that  the 
evil  spirit  which  has  gone  out  from  you,  do  not  '  return  into 
his  house,  and  find  it  empty,  swept,  and  garnished,'  ior  tlie 
reception  of  himself  and  '  seven  other  spirits  more  wiciccd 
than  himself,'  and  so  make  your  '  last  state  w^orse  than  the 
first.'  I  shall  probably  hereafter  write  you  more  fully,  and 
give  you  some  account  of  the  Lord's  dealings  with  my  soul ; 
but  in  the  meantime  will  conclude  with  an  apposite  quota- 
tion from  an  author  with  whose  style  you  are  well  ac- 
quainted." 

The  manuscript  closes  without  the  quotation,  and  our 
notices  ol"  his  iriend  Bolton's  religious  life  must  be  dismissed 
without  any  certain  light  as  to  its  issue. 

From  the  close  of  the  year  1813,  Mr.  Milnor  continued 
his  theological  studies  until  August,  1814,  four  months  after 
his  required  term  of  candidateship  had  expired — apparently 
m  consequence  of  the  long  mterruption  of  those  studies  by 
his  own  illness  and  that  of  his  wile,  in  the  summer  and  la  11 
of  1813.  He  would  have  continued  them  for  a  still  longer 
period,  but  for  a  circumstance  which  hastened  his  ordination, 
and  which  he  thus  records  in  his  last  entry  in  his  diary  : 

"  August  9,  1814. — Once  more  I  resume  my  brief  anno- 
tations. Since  my  last  entries,  my  life  has  been  that  of  a 
student,  much  abstracted  from  the  world,  and  laboriously 
eiig.iged  in  llic  acquisition  of  theological  knowledge.  My 
prospect  has  been  to  apply  for  orders  in  October  next  :  but 
circumstances  of  au  uuexijccled  n;i1nre  \\n\c  liashMiinl  llie 
measure.     The  Rev.  Mr.  Kemper  having  b-.H-n   inviird    hy 


HIS  JIINISTHY.  189 

the  Society  for  the  Advancement  of  Christianity  to  go  upon 
a  mission  through  the  state,  the  vestiy  have  requested  me 
to  anticipate  the  time  of  my  ordination,  that  I  may  supply 
his  place  during  his  absence.  The  desire  of  the  bishop  and 
of  all  my  friends  concurring  in  this  arrangement,  I  have 
consented.  My  ordination,  with  God's  permission,  is  to  take 
place  on  Sunday  morning  next,  in  St.  James'  church." 

In  a  record  which  he  soon  after  opened,  for  the  simple 
purpose  of  "  preserving  a  note  of  each  sermon  preached  by 
him  during  his  ministry,"  he  adds,  "  I  was  ordained  deacon 
by  the  Rt.  Rev.  William  White,  in  St.  James'  church,  Phil- 
adelphia, on  Sunday  morning,  August  14,  1814." 

So  brief  was  his  notice  of  that  interesting  event,  which 
lay  between  all  his  past  life  of  pleasure  and  of  politics  in  the 
great  world  of  men,  and  all  his  coming  life  of  labor  and  of 
usefulness  in  the  sweet  service  of  Christ  I  His  first  sermon 
was  preached  in  St.  Peter's,  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day 
on  which  he  was  ordained.  The  text,  chosen  with  peculiar 
appropriateness,  was  Rom.  1:16:  "I  am  not  ashamed  of 
the  gospel  of  Christ ;  for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salva- 
tion to  every  one  that  believeth  :  to  the  Jev^  first,  and  also 
to  the  Greek."  We  can  well  conceive  the  interest  with 
which  a  sermon  before  such  an  audience,  from  such  a  text, 
and  by  such  a  man,  must  have  been  received ;  preached,  as 
it  was,  in  the  very  centre  of  that  round  of  fashion  in  which, 
for  so  many  years,  he  had  been  moving ;  before  many  of  his 
former  companions  in  gayety  and  business  ;  and  on  a  text 
which  called  him  to  exhibit  the  gospel  of  the  lowly  Jesus 
in  all  its  humbling  peculiarity,  and  with  modest  boldness  to 
take  up  the  cross  of  proclaiming  Christ  crucified  among  men. 
That  he  was,  for  once,  "  a  prophet  not  without  honor  in  his 
own  country,  and  among  his  own  kin,"  may  be  inferred  from 
the  fact,  that  on  the  21st  of  December  next  after  his  ordina- 
tion, he  was  "  unanimously  elected  by  the  vestry  a  muiister 
of  the  united  churches." 

The  three  churches  beinj?  now  furnished  with  a  rector 


190  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

and  three  assistants,  each  had  one  "leisure"  Sunday  out  of 
every  four.  This  leisure  each  seems  to  have  spent  in  preach- 
ing in  the  neighboring  parishes  and  destitute  places.  Such 
was  the  use  w^hich  Mr.  Milnor,  at  least,  made  of  his  leisure 
Sundays,  as  appears  from  his  record  of  the  times  and  places 
of  his  labors.  The  first  fruit  of  this  arrangement  was  the 
organization  of  St.  John's  church,  Northern  Liberties.  Mr. 
Milnor  commenced  this  enterprise  by  preaching,  Sunday 
evening,  February  19,  1815,  "in  the  Commissioners'  Hall," 
or  town-house,  in  that  dense  suburb.  The  service  was  in 
"  a  large  and  crowded  room,"  and  the  sermon  to  "a  deeply 
attentive  people." 

On  Sunday  morning,  August  27,  1815,  he  was  admitted 
by  Bishop  White,  in  St.  James'  church,  to  the  order  of  pres- 
byters ;  and  on  the  next  Sunday  morning,  September  3,  in 
Christ  church,  he  "  for  the  first  time  administered  the  holy 
communion." 

The  two  following  letters,  written  during  this  period,  in- 
dicate very  distinctly  the  acceptableness  of  liis  labors ;  the 
stand  which  he  at  once  took  as  an  evangelical  preacher  ;  his 
temper  in  regard  to  ecclesiastical  dissensions  ;  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  sought  to  do  good  "  in  season,  and  out  of 
season."     The  former  was  addressed 

To  the  Rev.  Levi  Bull. 

"Philadelphia,  January  IG,  1815. 
"  Rev.  and  dear  Brother — I  thank  you  for  your  kind 
communication  of  the  10th  ult.  The  good  opinion  of  so  ex- 
perienced a  fellow- Christian  as  yourself  is  confessedly  grate- 
ful to  my  feelings  ;  whilst  I  desire  that  neither  that,  nor  any 
other  expression  of  human  approbation  may  seduce  me  into 
those  '  vain  imaginations  and  high  thoughts,'  which  are  so 
destructive  of  true  religion  in  the  soul.  Every  day's  expe- 
rience tends  to  lower  me  in  my  own  estimation ;  for  I  know 
the  inadequacy  of  my  talents  and  attainments,  and  that  I 
am  neither  so  ardent  and  laborious  in  my  external  labors, 


HIS  MINISTRY.  191 

iior  so  devout  and  spiritual  in  my  inward  exercises,  as  be- 
comes the  sincere  follower  of  Jesus,  more  especially  a  worm 
who  has  taken  upon  himself  to  speak  to  others  in  his  holy 
name.  My  prayer  to  God  is,  for  daily- supplies  of  his  all- 
sufficient  grace,  to  strengthen  me  in  his  work,  and  to  enable 
me  to  press  forward  with  a  steady  aim  to  the  promotion  of 
his  glory,  and  the  good  of  souls. 

"  In  relation  to  the  character  and  conduct  of  others,  asso- 
ciated in  the  same  duties,  I  think  myself  bound  to  act,  where 
I  believe  error  to  exist,  with  much  moderation.  Many  such 
act  honestly,  according  to  the  conclusions,  however  wrong, 
of  their  own  judgments ;  and  give  no  offence  to  religion  in 
their  lives  and  conversations.  Others  let  religion  sit  more 
loosely  upon  them ;  and  the  injury,  which  their  errors  in  doc- 
trine might  otherwise  occasion,  is  prevented  by  the  ill  ap- 
pearance which  its  practical  influence  exhibits  in  their  con- 
duct. *  To  their  own  Master  they  stand  or  fall.'  The  course 
of  those  who  profess  deeper  views  ui  divine  things,  and 
endeavor  after  a  closer  conformity  to  the  requisitions  of  the 
gospel,  is,  in  my  opinion,  to  remain  firm  to  their  principles ; 
to  adhere  to  that  strictness  of  life  wliich  conscience  and  the 
word  of  God  exact ;  and  to  proclaim  the  evangelical  truths 
of  religion  with  holy  boldness,  but  without  useless  offensive- 
ness  of  language.  Parties  in  the  Church,  my  dear  friend, 
should  not  be  countenanced.  If  an  upright  and  consistent 
discharge  of  duty  invite  odium  or  persecution  from  others, 
let  us  receive  with  meekness  and  resignation  any  consequen- 
ces to  which  it  may  lead.  But  opposition  to  the  persons  of 
men,  the  distinction  of  names,  and  the  array  of  each  other 
into  confficting  ranks,  must  produce,  whatever  be  the  sin- 
cerity of  mtention,  disastrous  consequences  to  the  interests 
of  our  Zion.  My  views  lead  me  to  shrink  from  any  situation 
that  may  excite  in  my  mind  those  turbulent  and  unruly  pas- 
sions which  divine  grace  has  yet  so  partially  subdued  ;  and 
religious  controversies,  of  all  others,  do  excite  them  in  the 
most  lamentable  and  pernicious  degree.     Forgive  the  ego- 


192  MEMOIU  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

tism  into  which  your  suggestions  unavoidably  led  rae,  when 
I  declare  my  persuasion  that  God  has  not  formed  me  for  an 
agency  iii  any  such  scenes. 

"  But,  whilst  I  Avish  to  meddle  little  with  others,  God 
has  clearly  pointed  out  to  me  my  own  line  of  duty.  For 
myself,  I  am  *  determined  to  know  nothing,'  in  my  ministe- 
rial labors,  '  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified ;'  to  preach 
nothing  but  his  precious  gospel  to  perishing  simiers ;  and, 
according  to  my  poor  measure  of  ability,  to  call  men  from  a 
reliance  on  their  own  works  to  an  entire  dependence  upon 
the  free  grace  and  mercy  of  God  in  Christ.  The  native 
depravity  of  man,  his  utter  helplessness,  the  necessity  of 
repentance  and  conversion,  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
these  evangehcal  exercises,  and  the  manifestation  of  the 
blessed  fruit  of  a  change  of  heart  in  the  work  of  holy  obedi- 
ence to  the  revealed  will  and  word  of  God,  are  themes  which 
fill  my  mind,  and  upon  which,  both  publicly  and  privately, 
I  shall  continue  to  dwell.  If  others  preach  differently,  may 
God  forgive  them,  and  bestow  upon  them  better  views.  I 
trust  the  Spirit  of  God  will  illuminate  the  minds  of  many, 
to  discern  where  the  truth  rests  ;  and  that  he  will  not  leave 
his  faithful  servants  without  the  reward  of  their  labors. 
Without  finding  an  apology  in  tliis  trust  for  any  negligence 
on  my  part,  I  feel,  my  friend,  more  and  more  deeply  con- 
vinced that  we  do  not  sufficiently  refer  to  the  faithfulness 
and  the  omnipotence  of  God,  in  our  estimate  of  the  eflects 
to  be  produced  by  the  labors  of  the  ministry.  Let  us  rely 
upon  his  promises  and  his  power,  and  we  shall  feel  less  de- 
sponding as  to  the  success  M'hich  in  his  own  time  will  attend 
his  preached  word.  Although  the  pleasing  occurrence  has 
not  taken  place  within  the  pale  of  our  own  communion,  yet 
the  late  revival  of  religion  in  the  college  at  Princeton  is  a 
just  evidence  of  the  truth  of  this  position,  and  a  cause  of 
pious  felicitation  among  Christians  of  every  denomination. 
I  have  heard  the  letters  of  Dr.  Green  on  the  subject  read 
with  astonishment  and  delight.     One'of  them  contains  fiity- 


HIS  MINISTEY.  193 

two  names  of  young  men,  a  part  of  whom,  it  was  believed, 
had  '  passed  from  death  unto  life  ;'  while  another  part  were 
'  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God,'  and  the  remamder  were 
under  strong  convictions  of  sin.  Surely,  *  this  is  the  Lord's 
doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes.'  May  the  dews  of 
his  heavenly  grace  descend  more  copiously  on  that  part  of 
his  vineyard,  in  which  his  providence  has  called  you  and  mo 
to  labor.  We  have,  it  is  true,  very  great  discouragements ; 
and  latterly  not  many  appearances  here  of  a  contrary  descrip- 
tion. But,  '  as  the  husbandman  waiteth  for  the  precious 
fruit  of  the  earth,  and  hath  long  patience  for  it  until  he 
receive  the  early  and  the  latter  rain,'  so  let  us  also  '  be  pa- 
tient.' Let  us  '  establish  our  hearts  ;  for  the  coming  of  the 
Lord  draweth  nigh.' 

"  Believe  me,  in  the  bonds  of  that  everlasting  covenant, 
ordered  in  all  things  and  sure,  wherein  we  desire  ever  to 
abide, 

"  Your  faithful  brother  in  Clirist, 

"JAMES  MILNOE." 

The  latter  of  the  two  comm.unications  was  addressed  to 
a  young  gentleman — ^possibly  one  of  the  '■'■  fifty -two  ^^  to 
whose  case  reference  was  made  in  the  former. 

"  Philadelphia,  Aug.  3,  1815. 
"  My  dear  Sir — I  acknowledge,  with  great  pleasure,  the 
receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  15th  ult.  How  sorry  am  I  that 
a  communication  which  encourages  me  to  think  so  favor- 
ably of  your  religious  steadfastness,  should  give  so  disheart- 
ening a  prospect  of  that  of  some  of  your  associates.  This  is 
lamentable,  indeed,  as  it  respects  the  individuals,  for  it  is  a 
tenfold  increase  of  their  guilt  and  condemnation,  to  have 
been  placed,  by  the  grace  of  Almighty  God,  in  the  road  to 
eternal  happiness,  and  then  wilfully  to  forsake  it ;  and  the 
shocking  sin  of  ingratitude  for  past  miercies  lessens  awfully 
the  hope  of  those  mercies  being  renewed.  Surely,  these  in- 
fatuated youth  are  sinning  against  the  clearest  light,  against 

Mem.  Milnor.  9 


194  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

the  convictions  of  conscience,  and  have  abundantly  more 
reason  than  its  author  to  adopt  the  language  of  the  heathen 
poet — and  to  fear  the  righteous  vengeance  of  Almighty  God 
for  its  presumptuous  truth — ^who  declared  of  himself, 
'  Video  raeliora  proboque; 
Deteriora  sequor.' 

Let  us  not,  however,  cease  to  pray  for  them,  and  remon- 
strate with  them ;  and  let  us  beware  how  we  ourselves,  by 
the  indulgence  of  sloth,  by  exposure  to  temptation,  or  by 
any  of  that  infinite  variety  of  means  wliich  Satan  and  our 
own  evil  hearts  are  so  ready  to  suggest,  fall  into  thp  hke 
condemnation. 

"  But  if  the  effect  of  these  secessions  from  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus  be  thus  deplorable  upon  the  individuals  them- 
selves, it  is  equally  injurious  to  the  general  interests  of  re- 
ligion. Already  the  enemies  of  evangelical  righteousness 
begin  to  take  great  credit  to  themselves  for  th>  truth  of 
their  predictions  as  to  the  instability  of  the  subjects  of  the 
late  revival ;  infidels  find  in  these  events  excitements  to 
blasphemous  merriment,  and  cold  moralists  plume  them- 
selves on  the  superiority  of  their  unfeelmg  system  of  reason 
and  expediency  over  one  which  they  allege  to  have  no  foun- 
dation but  in  the  effervescence  of  animal  excitement. 

"  But  let  none  of  these  things,  my  dear  young  friend, 
move  you.  However  ignorant  blasphemers  may  revile,  or 
lukewarm  Christians  undervalue  the  work  of  gi'ace  begun  by 
the  good  Spirit  of  our  God  in  your  seminary,  I  trust  that  in 
the  hearts  of  many  it  will  be  carried  on  unto  perfection,  and 
that  you,  who  have,  in  some  good  degree,  *  tasted  and  seen 
how  good  and  gracious  the  Lord  is,'  will  maintain  your  con- 
fidence, '  knowing  in  whom  you  have  believed,  and  that  he 
is  able  to  keep  that  which  you  have  committed  unto  him 
against  that  day.'  Never,  however,  expose  yourself  to  the 
seductions  of  temptation,  and  the  arts  of  the  adversary  of 
souls  ;  never  yield  to  the  suggestions  of  that  remainder  of  a 
corrupt  nature,  which  you  will  find  still  luring  you  back  to 


HIS  MIKISTEY.  195 

former  habits,  or  lulling  you  into  indifference  about  holy 
things,  or  beguiling  you  into  self-security  and  satisfaction 
with  your  present  measure  of  attainments  :  strive  to  '  forget 
those  things  that  are  behind,  and  to  reach  towards  those  that 
are  before  ;  pressing  daily  towards  the  mark  for  the  prize  of 
your  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.'  How  anxiously 
should  we  aim  at  that  glorious  assurance  which,  after  the 
most  trying  conflicts,  crowned  the  religious  experience  of 
the  great  apostle,  and  enabled  him  to  say,  '  I  am  persuaded 
that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities, 
nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor 
height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to 
separate  us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord.' 

"  Accept,  my  Christian  brother,  the  humble  prayers  of 
an  unworthy  aspirer  after  these  blessings,  for  your  attain- 
ment of  so  happy  an  advancement  in  the  divine  life ;  give 
him  an  interest  in  your  approaches  to  God,  and  believe  him 
to  be,  with  that  love  which  the  true  Christian  only  knows 
how  to  feel  and  to  cherish, 

"  Your  fellow-traveller  to  Zion,  and  faithful  friend, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

From  the  former  of  these  two  letters  it  is  evident,  that 
his  early  ministry  was  received  with  such  flattering  com- 
mendations as  made  him  feel  the  need  of  a  strong  guard 
against  high  thoughts  of  himself;  and  that  he  found  that 
guard  in  those  teachings  of  the  Spirit,  which  filled  him  with 
lowly  self-esteem.  It  is  also  evident,  that  he  was  early 
urged  to  assume  the  attitude  of  a  controversial  leader  of  the 
newly  rising  evangelical  interest  in  the  Episcopal  church ; 
and  that,  from  the  first,  he  took  the  stand,  which  he  ever 
afterwards  maintained,  of  avoiding  religious  controversy, 
and  especially  iiarty  names,  except  as  he  was  forced  to  bear 
them  in  his  adherence  to  what  he  considered  matters  of 
2)rincij)le.  His  temper  in  this  respect  was  beautiful.  Where 
his  views  of  truth  and  duty  required,  he  tpok  his  stand  fear- 


lOG  MEilOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

lessly  and  firmly,  and  then  calmly  met  the  consequences  of 
his  stand.  His  position  often  drew  upon  him  violent  as- 
saults ;  but  he  always  contented  himself  with  the  dignified 
defence  which  self-respect  demanded.  Assaults  upon  others 
he  never  made.  The  eyes  of  thousands  were  early  and  long 
turned  upon  him  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  men,  if  not 
the  most  prominent,  among  the  evangelical  portion  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church ;  but  no  one  was  ever  able 
to  look  upon  him  and  say,  "  Milnor  is  the  leader  of  our 
"party y  The  letter  on  which  these  comments  are  made, 
may  be  taken  as  an  index,  not  less  true  than  early,  to  his 
whole  course  as  an  evangelical  minister  in  the  church. 

The  latter  of  the  two  letters,  while  it  shows  his  aptness 
to  do  good  as  occasion  was  offered,  exhibits  also  the  interest 
with  which  he  ever  regarded  the  great  question  of  re\avals 
«f  religion.  He  never  doubted  that  such  revivals  are  in  full 
harmony  with  the  genius  of  the  gospel,  and  with  the  prom 
ised  influences  of  the  Spirit ;  although  he  never  shut  his  eye 
to  the  perils  attendant  on  remarkable  seasons  of  revival, 
through  the  wiles  of  Satan,  the  frailty  of  man,  and  the  de- 
ceitfulness  of  the  sinful  heart.  He  was  disposed  neither  to 
overrate  the  good  found  in  revivals  as  the  work  of  God,  nor 
to  be  blind  to  that  good  because  of  sometimes  attendant 
evils  as  the  work  of  man.  He  prayed  for  God's  blessings 
through  revivals,  and  he  labored  to  avert  man's  abuses, 
when  they  came. 

From  the  period  of  his  admission  to  the  order  of  presby- 
ters, in  August,  1815,  he  continued  to  labor  in  Philadelphia, 
as  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  united  churches,  until  his 
removal  to  New  York,  in  September,  1816.  During  this 
early  period  of  liis  ministry,  the  only  recorded  incident  of  im- 
portance out  of  the  line  of  his  uniform  and  diligent  labors, 
was  the  part  which  he  took,  in  the  winter  of  1816,  in  the 
action  of  the  Philadelphia  Bible  Society.  This  Society  under- 
took, at  that  time,  to  extend  its  operations  by  the  formation 
of  Bible  associations  throughout  the 'city  and  its  populous 


HIS   MINISTUY.  197 

suburbs,  and  for  this  purpose  appointed  a  committee  to  carry 
its  resolutions  into  eflect.  Of  this  committee  Mr.  Mihior 
was  a  member,  and  at  its  first  meeting  was  appointed  secre- 
tary. The  committee  detailed  itself  into  four  subcommit- 
tees, and  under  this  distribution,  carried  out  the  work  with 
which  they  were  intrusted.  In  doing  so,  they  incidentarlly 
took  measures  for  organizing  a  "  Marine  Bible  Society." 
They  also  ordered  the  circulars,  which  were  intended  to 
accompany  the  Society's  report  when  published  in  the  news- 
papers, to  be  sent  to  each  of  the  presidents  of  the  Bible  Soci- 
eties of  Boston,  Hartford,  Providence,  New  York,  Albany, 
Baltimore,  Charleston,  Richmond,  Savannah,  and  Lexington, 
as  well  as  to  the  presidents  of  the  Auxiliary  Bible  Society, 
and  of  the  Female  Bible  Society,  of  Philadelphia. 

These  proceedings  were  had  in  January,  1816,  and  it  is 
worthy  of  remark,  that  on  the  1 1th  of  May  of  the  same  year, 
the  American  Bible  Society  was  organized  in  the  city  of  New 
York ;  ah  organization  which  brought  nearly  all  the  discon- 
nected Bible  Societies  of  the  country  into  union  with  one 
central  agency  for  the  dissemination  of  the  word  of  God 
among  all  the  families  of  the  earth ;  a  fit  associate  in  this 
work,  with  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  of  London. 
How  far  this  grand  central  movement  in  New  York  grew 
out  of  the  measures  adopted  in  Philadelphia  the  preceding 
January,  it  is  not  intended  to  inquire ;  but  it  is  pleasing  to 
know,  that  Mr.  Milnor  not  only  became  most  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  American  Bible  Society  immediately  after  his 
removal  to  New  York,  but  was  similarly  engaged  in  the  Bible 
cause  before  its  central  organization  had  a  being. 

Early  in  the  month  of  May,  1816,  Mr.  Milnor  became 
aware  of  a  movement  in  St.  George's  church,  New  York, 
tending  towards  his  future  rectorship  of  that  parish.  After 
a  preparatory  correspondence,  the  way  was  open  for  decisive 
steps.  Accordingly,  on  the  6th  of  June  the  vestry  of  St. 
George's  met,  and  made  out  their  official  call,  accompanying 
it  with  the  following  brief,  but  interesting  letter. 


198  MEMOm  OF  DR.  MILNOH. 

To  the  Rev.   James  Milnor. 
"St.  George's  Church,  New  York,  Jiine  6,  1816. 

"  Rev.  Sir — It  is  with  feelings  of  great  satisfaction,  that 
we  present  you  the  resolution  inclosed.  Convinced  we  can 
offer  you  no  motive  for  accepting  this  call  but  the  prospect 
of  more  extended  usefulness  in  the  cause  to  which  you  have 
so  disinterestedly  dedicated  your  future  life,  permit  us  to 
observe,  that  our  congregation,  now  large,  is  capable,  under 
the  blessing  of  God,  of  being  very  greatly  increased ;  and 
considering  the  anxiety  prevailing  among  us  to  hear  the 
tidings  of  salvation,  we  cherish  the  confident  hope,  that  under 
your  ministrations,  our  Zion  may  be  brought  to  rejoice  in 
the  strength  of  her  Lord.  We  believe  the  harvest  may  be 
great,  but  the  laborers  are  wanting ;  and  we  trust  you  will 
not  decline  what  we  hope  you  and  all  of  us  may  be  led  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  to  consider  the  summons  of  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest. 

"  We  are  not  conscious  that  any  circumstance  can  exist, 
to  induce  a  doubt  in  your  mind  of  this  being  a  call  of  duty  ; 
but,  anxious  to  omit  no  proper  means  of  securing  to  our  con- 
gregation your  useful  labors,  if  any  such  circumstance  exist, 
we  trust  you  will  give  us  an  opportunity  to  explain  ;  which 
we  believe  can  be  done,  on  all  points,  in  a  manner  entirely 
satisfactory. 

"  Requesting  your  communications  may  be  addressed  to 

either  of  the  undersigned,  we  remain,  with  sentiments  of 

great  respect,  reverend  sir, 

"  Your  friends, 

"  GERRIT  H.  VAN  WAGENEN,  ) 

"  HARRY  PETERS,  J  wardens. 

The  following  was  liis  first  reply 

To  G-errit  H.  Van  Wagenen  and  Harry  Peters,  Wardens. 
"PniLADELPiiiA,  June  10,  1816. 
**  Gentlemen — I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
favor  of  the  Cth  inst.,  and  to  return  you  my  thanks  for  the 


HIS  MINISTRY.  199 

friendly  and  obliging  terms  in  which  you  have  been  good 
enough  to  communicate  the  call  of  the  wardens  and  vestry 
of  St.  George's,  to  the  rectorship  of  that  church. 

"  Flattering  as  I  consider  an  invitation  to  that  respect- 
able charge,  I  trust  that  on  a  subject  so  interesting  as  that 
of  a  permanent  removal  from  the  place  of  my  birth,  to  which 
so  many  attachments,  relative,  social,  and  religious,  bind  my 
affections,  you  will  not  be  surprised  at  any  hesitation  which 
has  been  manifested  on  my  part,  in  encouraging  the  measure, 
or  that  may  now  be  evinced  in  regard  to  a  compliance  with 
your  offer. 

"  Of  one  thing  I  assure  you,  gentlemen,  that  if,  after 
proper  consideration,  duty  appears  to  require  of  me  the  sur- 
render of  personal  convenience,  it  shall  be  made  ;  and  that, 
should  divine  Providence  direct  my  course  to  New  York,  as 
a  measure  of  respect  towards  the  congregation  of  St.  George's, 
and  with  a  view  to  a  better  determination  of  a  point  of  so 
much  importance  both  to  them  and  to  myself,  I  propose  to 
visit  New  York  the  latter  part  of  the  present  week,  and  if  it 
be  agreeable,  preach  in  your  church  on  the  ensuing  Sunday. 

"  In  the  meantime,  the  subject  will  be  deeply  reflected 
on  by  me ;   and  I  trust  I  shall  have  your  prayers  associated 
with  my  own,  imploring  such  a  result  as  shall  be  for  the  glory 
of  God,  and  the  promotion  of  the  kingdom  of  his  Son. 
"  I  am,  with  sentiments  of  great  respect, 
"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"JAMES  MILNOU." 

In  pursuance  of  the  intimation  thus  given,  Mr.  Milnor 
was  m  New  York  on  Saturday,  the  15th  of  June;  and  on 
Sunday,  officiated  all  day  at  St.  George's.  His  first  sermon 
there  was  that  which  he  first  preached  after  the  event  of  his 
ordination — from  Rom.  1:16:  "I  am  not  ashamed  of  the 
gospel  of  Christ ;"  and  it  was  received,  as  were  all  his  ser- 
vices there,  with  the  greatest  satisfaction.  Assiduous  atten- 
tions gathered  round  him  from  all  parts  of  the  congregation  ; 
and  before  the  close  of  the  visit,  it  became  evident  to  his  own 


200  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

mind,  that  he  could  not,  consistently  with  duty,  decline  the 
call  which  he  had  received.  He  intimated  as  much  in  his 
letters  to  Mrs.  Milnor  ;  and  in  Philadelphia,  before  his  return, 
it  was  known  to  be  a  settled  matter,  that  they  were  to  lose 
him  from  among  them. 

His  official  acceptance  of  the  call  was  signined  to  the 
vestry  while  he  was  in  New  York.     He  wrote  thus  : 

"  To  the  "Wardens  and  Vestrymen  of  St.  Greorge's." 
"New  York,  June  20,  1816. 

*'  Gentlemen — Having  suspended  my  decision  upon  your 
obliging  call  to  the  rectorship  of  St.  George's,  until  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  visiting  the  congregation,  and  they  of  hearing 
me  perform  divine  service  and  preach,  the  unanimity  which, 
I  am  since  assured,  prevails  both  in  your  body  and  amongst 
the  people,  leaves  no  doubt  in  my  mmd  of  its  being  my  duty 
to  comply  with  your  wishes. 

"I  accordingly  accept  the  call,  and  implore  the  great 
Head  of  the  church  to  accompany  with  his  blessmg  the  con- 
nection thus  formed  between  us. 

"  Some  time  will  be  requisite  for  procuring  a  dissolution 
of  my  present  engagement  in  Philadelphia,  and  for  settling 
my  concerns  there.  Any  accommodation,  therefore,  in  regard 
to  the  time  of  commencing  my  labors,  that  may  be  found 
convenient  to  you,  will  be  acceptable. 

*'  I  remain,  gentlemen,  with  gratitude  and  respect, 
"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

He  had  prepared  a  longer  form  of  reply,  in  which  he  pro- 
posed to  place  the  call  again  in  the  power  of  the  vestry,  to 
be  renewed  or  suflercd  to  expire,  as  they  and  the  people 
might  feel  disposed,  after  having  heard  him  in  their  desk  and 
pulpit ;  but,  upon  second  thought,  he  laid  aside  the  letter 
which  he  had  written,  and  trusting  to  the  evidences  which 
he  saw  around  him,  of  a  unanimous  desire  for  his  acceptance, 
penned  and  sent  the  brief  letter  just  given.     His  institution 


,  or  xrt*.  tnoieoTT»:< 


AHE  B-ZCTORT, 
BEEKMAN    St.  NEW    YORK. 


59  BEEKMAN     St 


HIS  MINISTE.Y.  201 

by  Bishop  Hobart,  as  rector  of  the  parish,  took  place  on  Mon- 
day, September  30, 

The  severance  of  one  of  the  last  links  in  the  chain  of  his 
connection  with  Philadelphia,  was  effected  by  his  receipt  of 
a  check  from  the  accounting  warden  of  the  united  churches 
for  the  balance  of  his  salary  ;  accompanied  by  a  kind  note,  in 
which  the  writer  signified  that  his  brother  wardens  in  New 
York  might  send  Mr.  Milnor  bigger  checks,  but  could  not  give 
him  better  love. 


SECTION   II. 

Mr.  Milnor  now  entered  on  that  long  and  uniform  period 
of  his  ministerial  career,  which  closed  but  with  his  life. 
With  the  hearts  of  his  people  from  the  first  united  in  him, 
and  kindly  yielding  to  his  wise  and  gentle  sway,  his  labors 
were  not  long  in  assuming  that  direction  which,  with  little 
variation,  they  held  to  the  end  of  his  ministry.  To  his  reg- 
ular services  in  the  pulpit,  were  soon  added  those  of  his  favor- 
ite Tuesday  and  Friday  evening  lectures  ;  of  his  unceasing 
attention  to  parochial  Sunday-schools ;  of  his  management 
of  the  parish  organization  for  the  promotion  of  missionary 
and  other  benevolent  operations ;  and  of  his  watchful  care 
of  the  social  meetings  of  his  communicants  for  prayer  and 
exhortation. 

"Within  his  own  parish,  the  stream  of  his  ministerial  life 
ran  ever  smooth.  His  preaching  was  always  most  favorably 
received,  and  encouragingly  blessed.  His  Sunday-schools 
became  large,  prosperous,  and,  in  a  short  time,  several  in 
number.  His  Friday  evening  lectures,  which,  when  given 
in  the  lecture-room,  were  always  opened  with  forms  from  the 
prayer-book,  but  usually  closed  with  extemporaneous  prayer, 
were  uniformly  to  large  audiences,  and  often  scenes  of  deep 
and  powerful  interest  through  the  evident  presence  of  God's 
9# 


202  MEMOIE  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

Holy  Spirit.  The  benevolent  operations  of  his  parish,  con- 
ducted with  wise  reference  to  system,  and  sustained  by  con- 
stant manifestations  of  liberality,  were  steadily  prosperous 
and  mcreasingly  productive.  And  the  weekly  meetings  of 
his  communicants  for  social  prayer  and  conversation,  some- 
times attended  by  himself,  but  more  frequently  without  his 
presence,  were  seldom  if  ever  omitted,  and  not  often  destitute 
of  truly  pleasing  tokens  of  the  divine  favor. 

Out  of  his  parish,  however,  his  course  of  labor  lay  through 
much  opposition,  and  his  day  of  action  was  often  stormy. 
The  extemporaneous  close  of  his  lecture-room  exercises,  and 
the  meetings  which  he  countenanced  among  liis  communi- 
cants for  social  prayer  without  forms,  encountered  the  con- 
stant and  earnest  displeasure  of  his  bishop  ;  while  the  pubhc 
stand  which  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  take,  in  cooperatmg  with 
Christians  of  other  denominations  in  distributing  the  Bible 
without  note  or  comment,  and  in  circulatmg  religious  tracts 
of  an  unsectarian  character,  drew  upon  him  reiterated  ex- 
pressions of  disapprobation,  not  only  from  his  bishop,  but 
also  from  a  large  portion  of  the  Episcopal  church.  The 
manner,  however,  in  which  he  met  all  this  opposition,  stand- 
ing as  he  always  did,  mildly  firm  to  liis  principles,  his  rights, 
and  his  sense  of  duty,  displayed  at  once  the  strength  of  his 
character  and  the  beauty  of  his  religion.  Ofiensively  or 
officiously,  he  urged  his  peculiarities  upon  none  :  from  the 
ground  which  he  felt  constrained  to  take,  he  was  moved  by 
the  reproaches  of  none.  He  blamed  none  for  the  difl'erent 
views  of  ministerial  duty  to  which  they  chose  to  adhere  :  he 
suffered  the  interference  of  none  to  disturb  him  in  those  which 
he  was  led  deliberately  to  adopt.  He  sought  no  party  dis- 
tinctions and  no  personal  ends,  either  for  himself  or  for  others : 
he  suffered  not  the  stigma  of  offensive  names,  by  whomsoever 
fastened  on  him,  to  withdraw  his  eye  for  a  moment  from  the 
one  great  cause  of  Christ  in  which  he  was  enlisted  for  life, 
and  in  which  he  sought  to  enlist  his  fellow-creatures ;  but 
true  to  the  line  of  duty  by  which  a  scripturally  enlightened 


HIS  MINISTRY.  203 

conscience  bade  him  walk,  and  intelligent  of  the  rights  with 
which  the  laws  of  his  church  and  of  his  country  invested 
both  himself  and  his  brethren,  he  quietly  took  his  course,  and 
neither  turned  from  it,  nor  faltered  in  it,  until  death. 

His  interest  in  the  cause  of  the  Bible  before  he  left  Phil- 
adelphia, has  already  been  noted.  It  has  also  been  seen 
that  the  American  Bible  Society  was  organized  May  11, 
1816  ;  at  the  very  time  when  he  was  in  correspondence 
with  the  vestry  of  St.  George's.  At  his  settlement  in  New 
York,  therefore,  in  September,  this  central  organization  was 
but  just  beginning  to  put  its  machinery  in  motion ;  and  as 
he  lost  no  time,  after  his  removal  to  this  city,  in  identifying 
himself  with  its  friends,  and  had  been  previously  engaged  in 
those  expanding  activities  of  the  Philadelphia  Bible  Society, 
which,  if  they  did  not  originate  the  general  institution  m 
New  York,  were  at  least  in  close  connection  and  full  sympa- 
thy with  its  originating  causes,  he  may  be  considered,  if  not 
one  of  the  first  founders  of  that  blessed  institution,  yet  one  of 
that  noble  band  of  Christian  spirits  of  various  name,  but  of 
harmonious  views,  and  of  united  hearts,  through  whose  influ- 
ence its  earliest  foundations  were  laid. 

The  history  of  his  valuable  labors  ui  this  Society  belongs 
properly  to  a  later  page  in  this  memoir.  The  mere  fact  of 
his  early  connection  with  its  operations,  is  all  that  it  is  here 
necessary  to  state.  For  the  present  we  have  nothing  to  do 
but  to  trace  the  course  of  his  labors  and  his  life  as  well  as 
we  may,  by  the  help  of  those  few  letters  which  have  been 
recovered,  and  which  he  either  wrote  or  received  in  the 
course  of  his  prolonged  and  very  varied  correspondence. 

The  following  from  a  doubting  parishioner,  together  with 
ita  answer,  presents  us  with  an  interior  view  of  his  parochial 
life. 

To  the  Rev.  Mr.  Milnor. 

"New  York,  July  31,  1817. 
'*  E,EV.  Sir — Emboldened  by  the  permission  which  you 
gave  me,  of  stating  to  you  some  of  the  impediments  which 


204  MEMOIR   OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

prevent  me  from  joining  the  company  of  travellers  to  Zion, 
I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  enclosing  a  few  thoughts.  I  hope 
I  have  not  written  with  too  much  boldness  and  disrespect, 
on  a  subject  of  which  I  wish  to  think  and  speak  with  rever- 
ence ;  and  that  you  will  favor  me  with  your  opinion  of  them, 
and  say  whether  you  do  not  think  that  one  so  faithless  and 
wavering  had  better  abstain  from  the  table,  lest,  partaking 
with  an  unbelieving  heart,  she  eat  and  drink  condemnation 
to  herself  Your  candid  sentiments  on  this  subject  will  much 
obhge, 

"  Rev.  sir,  your  friend, 

"C P . 

"I  am  much  pressed  by  those  interested  in  my  spiritual 
welfare  to  come  forward  as  a  public  professor,  and  join  the 
number  of  those  who  seal  their  faith  and  love  by  partaking 
of  an  ordinance  recommended  by  the  Saviour  as  a  memorial 
of  himself.  My  not  doing  so  is,  I  fear,  misunderstood  as 
obstinacy  or  indillerence.  But  it  proceeds  from  neither. 
Indeed,  I  feel  sincerely  sorry  that  I  cannot  go  up  with  the 
assembly  of  saints,  and  feed  upon  those  precious  memorials 
with  true  faith  and  a  thankful  heart.  But  v/hile  I  feel  no 
assurance  of  faith ;  wliile  I  know  I  do  not  experience  the 
power  of  rehgion  in  my  soul ;  while  I  do  not  embrace  the 
whole  gospel  plan  with  all  my  heart ;  Avhile  I  cannot  place 
such  dependence  on  it  as  to  say,  *  Here  is  firm  footing,  here  is 
solid  rock' — would  it  not  be  acting  the  hypocrite  to  substitute 
appearance  for  reality,  the  shadow  for  the  substance  ? 

"  Let  it  not  be  said  I  indulge  a  sceptical  mind.  Oh,  I 
lament  the  disposition.  I  would  fain  believe  with  all  the 
simplicity  of  a  little  child.  But,  alas,  the  evil  spirit  of  unbe- 
lief is  continually  rising  and  starting  objections.  Some 
stumbUng-block  is  ever  in  the  way.  Some  doubt  that  can- 
not be  solved  constantly  impedes  my  progress  in  the  Christian 
course,  and  renders  me  cold  and  indiflerent.  Am  I  asked  to 
mention  some  of  these  doubts  ?  They  are  not  always  pres- 
ent ;  but  often  show  themselves  in  many  differing  forms 


HIS  MINISTRY.  205 

One  of  the  most  besetting  and  hardest  to  answer,  is,  that  the 
gospel  plan  of  salvation  appears  a  confined  one,  allowing  its 
utmost  latitude,  except  as  explained  by  the  Universalists, 
and* theirs  is  a  creed  which  I  dare  not  adopt.  The  Predes- 
tinarians  say,  that  Christ's  blood  was  not  shed  in  vain; 
that  human  nature  is  so  depraved,  so  averse  to  good,  so  far 
gone  out  of  the  right  way,  that,  although  a  remedy  is  pro- 
vided for  them,  they  will  never  turn  and  embrace  it ;  but 
that  Christ,  by  his  sufferings,  purchased  the  redemption  of 
all  that  shall  be  saved  ;  that  they  are  bought  with  a  price  ; 
that  they  are  his  ;  and  that  therefore  none  of  them  shall  be 
lost,  but  his  Spirit  will  operate  so  powerfully  on  their  minds, 
as  to  transform  them,  and  make  them  willing  to  accept  his 
offered  grace.  This  is  generally  rejected  as  a  cold,  contract- 
ed thought ;  as  derogating  from  the  generous  motive  that 
brought  the  Son  of  God  from  the  abode  of  unceasing  happi- 
ness to  suffer  and  die,  that  guilty  man  might  be  fitted  to  par- 
take of  his  endless  glory. 

'"He  left  his  radiant  throne  on  high, 
Left  the  bright  realms  of  bliss, 
And  came  to  earth  to  bleed  and  die ; 
"Was  ever  love  like  this  ?' 

"  'Tis,  indeed,  a  proof  of  love  and  mercy  enough  to  thaw 
the  frozen  heart  of  apathy  itself  into  feeling  and  devotion. 
"Why,  then,  is  mine  so  refractory  ?  Why  will  it  not  believe 
and  accept  ?  Alas,  because  I  am  a  doubting  Thomas.  I 
have  not  faith,  even  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed.  When  I  am 
about  to  stretch  out  the  withered  arm,  and  make  a  feeble 
attempt  to  lay  hold  on  the  hope  presented  in  the  gospel,  this 
thought  arrests  it :  Can  it  be  that  those  transactions  have 
taken  place,  and  were  necessary  for  the  salvation  of  men  ? 
And  is  it  also  necessary  that  they  should  believe  and  depend 
on  them  to  be  saved  ?  Then,  why  is  the  knowledge  of  them 
so  confined?  If  Christ  came  to  save  the  world,  and  the 
world  cannot  be  saved  but  by  faith  in  him,  what  is  to  be- 
come of  the  greatest  part  of  its  inhabitants,  who  cannot  exer- 


206  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

cise  faitli  for  want  of  knowledge  ?  How  many  of  the  ancients, 
who  were  endowed  with  great  capacities,  and  seemed  illu- 
mined by  a  light  divine,  have  died  without  faith  I  They 
could  not  believe  what  they  had  never  heard.  How  rr>any 
good  men  have  died  ignorant  of  the  contents  of  the  Bible  I 
Nay,  how  many  in  modern  times  have  been  sceptical,  who 
have  appeared  to  be  sincere  searchers  after  truth,  and  who 
have  possessed  capacious  minds  I  Are  we  not  taught  to 
believe  this  to  be  the  first  stage  of  bemg,  that  we  are  now 
fitting  for  the  stations  which  we  are  hereafter  to  fill  ?  Does 
it  not  seem  probable,  then,  that  a  comprehensive  mind, 
which  here  just  began  to  unfold,  will  expand  and  enlarge 
when  it  enters  that  world  where  faith  shall  be  swallowed  up 
in  vision  ?  And  if  so,  was  it — with  powers  superior,  in  the 
order  of  being,  to  common  minds — created  for  no  purpose  ? 
Does  it  not  appear  to  have  some  part  to  act  hereafter,  and 
that  its  powers  of  perception  will  increase,  when,  freed  from 
its  dark  prison-house,  it  can  soar  and  view  what  mortal  eye 
hath  not  seen,  ear  heard,  or  heart  of  man  conceived  ?  Yet 
many  of  these  have  died  unbelievers,  and  we  are  told,  that 
'  without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God.' 

"  There  are  other  difficulties,  not  so  formidable,  indeed, 
which  still  create  doubts.  One  is,  the  want  of  charity  among 
professors.  If  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  be  love  and  gentleness, 
if  Christ  said,  '  By  this  shall  all  men  know  ye  are  my  disci- 
ples, if  ye  love  one  another,'  what  testimony  to  the  fulfilling 
of  this  command  do  different  sects  exhibit  in  their  charity 
for  each  other  ?  Although  travelHng  to  the  same  place,  they 
yet  obey  not  the  injunction,  '  Fall  not  out  by  the  way  ;'  but 
because  they  understand  not  all  the  directions  alike,  a  spirit 
of  acrimony  and  contention  usurps  the  place  of  brotherly 
kindness.  Forgetting  that  they  are  all  equally  sincere  in 
their  interpretations  of  their  Master's  commands,  and  that 
he  alone  can  judge  who  has  best  undersstood  his  orders,  they 
'  snatch  from  his  hand  the  balance  and  the  rod,'  and  are 
often  more  inveterate  against  their  fellow-Christians  that 


HIS  MINISTRY.  207 

difler  from  them,  than  they  are  against  infidels.  "Wliere, 
says  unbelief,  is  the  transforming  influence,  in  all  this,  of  a 
religion  that  changes  a  sinner  into  a  saint ;  or  if  so  many 
paths  lead  astray  from  the  right  one,  why  are  we  left,  blind 
as  we  are,  to  grope  our  way  with  such  obscure  directions  ? 

"  I  do  not  encourage  these  difficulties  ;  they  force  them- 
Belves  upon  me  :  they  weaken  my  confidence  in  revelation  ; 
take  from  me  that  prop  on  which  my  hopes,  my  affections, 
would  fain  lean,  and  leave,  instead,  a  cold,  insensible,  doubt- 
ng  heart.  Would  such  a  sacrifice  be  acceptable  ?  Or  can 
.t  possibly  be  brought  to  the  table  of  the  Lord  ?" 

Answer To   Mrs.  C P . 

"New  Yokk,  Aug.  — ,  t817. 

"My  dear  Madam — To  the  question  with  which  you 
close  your  communication,  I  answer,  without  hesitation,  in 
the  negative.  With  your  present  feelings,  it  would  be  wrong 
in  your  friends  to  press  you  on  the  subject  of  communion. 
But  the  circumstances  which  now  restrain  your  approach  to 
the  table  of  the  Lord,  are  of  vastly  more  importance  when 
viewed  in  reference  to  eternity,  than  when  considered  in  ref- 
erence to  this  preliminary  ordinance.  They  form  a  most 
alarming  barrier  to  those  hopes  which  its  participation  is 
designed  not  to  create,  but  to  strengthen  and  confirm  ;  and 
therefore,  in  regard  not  to  this  measure  alone,  but  to  that 
heavenly  happiness  after  which  its  faithful  recipients  aspire, 
it  is  of  infinite  interest  to  you  that  the  doubts  with  which 
you  are  harassed  should  be  removed.  Nothing,  indeed,  but 
a  superior  Power  can  do  this  ;  but  if  he  be  appealed  to  with 
earnestness  and  sincerity,  and  if  fervent  prayer  be  accompa- 
nied by  the  use  of  all  those  means  of  knowledge  with  which 
we  are  favored,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  truths  of  revelation 
"wdll  shine  into  your  mind  with  a  radiance  that  shall  dispel 
from  it  every  cloud  of  unbelief 

"  Your  letter,  though  leading  to  a  fear  that  your  mind  is 
disturbed  on  other  points,  yet  appears  to  me  to  embrace,  sub- 


208  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

stantially,  but  two  difficulties  ;  the  latter  of  which,  as  the 
less  important,  I  will  notice  first.  This  is,  the  want  of  char- 
ity among  professing  Christians.  The  existence  of  this  evil, 
to  a  lamentable  extent,  cannot  be  denied  ;  yet  perhaps  it  is 
not  so  generally  prevalent  as  you  imagine.  Where  the  errors 
of  some  sects  affect  the  vital  truths  of  religion,  those  on 
which  salvation  is  deemed  to  depend,  they  are  assailed  by 
others  with  a  vehemence  and  even  intemperance  of  lan- 
guage, which  the  maintenance  of  truth,  important  as  it  is, 
will  not  justify.  And  yet,  where  this  is  the  case,  so  far  from 
hostility  to  individuals  being  felt,  the  unhappy  persons  who 
are  believed  to  be  in  error  are  often  borne  on  the  hearts  of 
their  opponents  in  secret  prayer  to  God,  and  in  sincere  sup- 
plication presented  in  their  behalf.  Acrimony,  violent  and 
unpardonable,  it  is  admitted,  is  sometimes  indulged,  and  not 
unfrequently  on  points  of  minor  importance.  But  may  not 
much  sincerity  in  these  persons,  though  so  improperly  man- 
ifested, really  exist  ?  And  even  where  blamable  motives 
prompt  contending  parties,  does  this  aflect  the  truth  of  that 
religion,  all  whose  principles  and  precepts  are  directed  to  the 
rectification  or  removal  of  those  motives  ?  It  proves  the  deep 
and  radical  corruption  of  human  nature.  It  furnishes  ground 
for  apprehending,  that  the  persons  in  question  have  not  ex- 
perienced the  transforming  influence  of  that  religion  whose 
very  basis  is  love,  or  that  it  has  but  partially  operated  its 
efTects  on  their  minds.  If,  on  a  recurrence  to  the  system  in 
which  they  profess  to  believe,  that  is  found  to  justify,  even 
towards  enemies,  hatred  and  animosity,  then  reject  it  as 
inconsistent  with  the  nature  and  attributes  of  Deity  ;  but  if, 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  seen  exacting  of  all  its  professors  the 
cultivation  of  love  to  God  and  man ;  if  its  great  object  of 
conscientious  pursuit,  as  there  delineated,  be  that  '  wisdom 
which  is  from  above,'  and  which  is  characterized  as  being 
'  first  pure,  then  peaceable,  gentle,  and  easy  to  be  entreated, 
full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits,  without  partiality  and  with- 
out hypocrisy ;'  then,  surely,  it  is  wrong  to  transfer  the 


HIS  MINISTRY.  209 

blame,  to  whicli  false  or  mistaken  professors  are  justly  liable, 
to  a  system  which  condemns  their  conduct.  '  All  are  not 
Israel  that  are  of  Israel.'  Hypocrites  and  self-deceivers  have 
ever  infested  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  on  other  minds  than 
yours  have  produced  prejudices  against  the  religion  which 
they  disgraced.  Might  we  not  as  well  condemn  the  eleven 
apostles,  because  their  remaining  associate  was  a  traitor ;  or 
the  blessed  Jesus  and  his  instructions,  because  they  failed 
in  producing  the  same  benign  effect  on  the  heart  of  Judas, 
which  we  know  they  did  produce  on  those  of  the  others ;  as 
to  say  that,  because  hypocrites  obtrude  themselves  among 
the  sincere,  or  because  the  inveterate  depravity  of  the  human 
heart  has,  in  many  professors,  been  but  partially  subdued, 
therefore  that  system  which  stamps  condemnation  and  pro- 
nounces the  most  fearful  threatenings  on  their  misconduct, 
is  false  and  unfounded  ? 

"  But  is  the  spirit  of  which  you  speak  of  universal  prev- 
alence ?  Are  all,  or  the  greater  portion  of  Christians,  charge- 
able with  a  want  of  charity  ?  If  it  were  so,  this  would 
justly  excite  doubts  of  the  power  of  Christianity  to  trans- 
form even  its  sincere  adherents.  Do  the  various  methods  by 
which  the  hostility  of  Christian  sects  has,  in  our  day,  been 
so  much  lessened,  furnish  no  answer  to  your  objection?  Is 
there  no  proof  that  this  acrimonious  disposition  is  every  day 
yielding  to  the  bland  afl^ections  wliich  swayed  the  soul  of  the 
Redeemer,  and  which  his  precepts  and  example  are  calcu- 
lated to  infuse  into  all  his  true  disciples  ?  Do  Bible  socie- 
ties, composed  of  all  religious  sects  ;  missionary  associations, 
uniting  several  denominations  heretofore  deemed  hostile  to 
each  other ;  charitable  institutions  for  the  succor  of  the 
miserable  and  the  instruction  of  the  indigent,  embracing  a 
harmonious  union  of  almost  every  department  of  the  Chris- 
tian world :  nay,  does  the  intercourse  of  private  life  afford 
no  testimony  that,  if  not  in  all,  yet  in  many  hearts  the  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel  have  produced  the  happiest,  most  glori- 
ous effects  ?     I  really  think,  that  on  consideration,  you  will 


210  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

perceive  there  is,  in  your  suggestion,  some  indication  of  the 
very  fault  in  yourself  whicli  you  condemn  in  Christians ;  and 
that,  in  fact,  one  of  the  strongest  evidences  of  the  truth  of 
our  blessed  religion  is  the  obvious  effects  which  it  has  pro- 
duced in  ameliorating  the  manners  and  feelings  of  society, 
and  in  its  begetting  a  love  among  its  professors,  which  we 
m.ay  in  vain  look  for  in  any  country  where  it  has  not  obtained 
an  entrance. 

"  The  other  difficulty  which  besets  you,  you  state  to  be 
the  confined  character  of  the  gospel  plan,  *  allowing  the 
utmost  latitude,  except  as  explained  by  the  Universahsts ; 
and  theirs,'  you  say,  'is  a  creed  which  you  dare  not  adopt.' 
I  am  glad  of  this  latter  remark,  because  this,  as  well  as  other 
expressions  of  your  letter,  shows  that  your  mental  embar- 
rassments have  not  only  failed  to  prepare  you  for  rejecting 
wholly  the  system  of  revealed  truth,  on  which  our  immor 
tal  happiness  depends,  but  also  left  you  sufficient  discern- 
ment to  see  the  iniquity  of  a  plan  that,  with  a  fair  show  of 
benevolence,  would  prostrate  all  distinctions  between  good 
and  evil,  and  consequently  between  the  opposite  results, 
which  reason,  even  without  revelation,  teaches  us  ought 
severally  to  follow. 

"  You  allude  to  the  confined  aspect  of  the  predestinarian 
scheme.  Except  under  modifications  which  its  strict  adhe- 
rents will  not  admit,  my  past  reflections  have  not  led  me  into 
this  view  of  the  gospel  plan.  Of  course  I  am  not  obliged  to 
defend  Christianity  attended  by  this  incumbrance.  Reject- 
ing, then,  this  view  of  it,  where  is  the  ground  for  your  ob- 
jection ?  So  far  from  being  liable  to  it  in  its  own  nature, 
the  whole  system  is  predicated  on  the  purest  and  most  exten- 
sive principles  of  universal  benevolence. 

"  The  race  of  mankind  lose  their  integrity  and  become 
rebels  against  God.  A  restoration  to  purity  and  a  title  to 
forgiveness  are,  by  human  means,  unattainable.  Mere  mercy, 
under  the  direction  of  infinite  wisdom,  in  accordance,  too, 
with  the  principles  of  justice,  provides  a  method  whereby 


HIS  MINISTRY.  211 

both  may  be  procured.  This  is  oflered  to  all,  urged  upon 
all.  Not  one  of  the  human  family  is  excluded  from  a  right 
to  its  participation  on  the  terms  prescribed.  A  church,  a 
ministry,  and  ordinances,  are  established  for  the  promulga- 
tion of  this  expanded  scheme  of  beneficence  to  all  the  nations 
of  the  world.  Through  the  agency  of  these,  with  the  writ- 
ten word  and  the  accompanying  influences  of  the  Spirit,  it 
is  making  progress  over  the  earth,  is  now  daily  accelerating 
its  march,  and  will  not  stop  till  all  '  the  kingdoms  of  the 
earth  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ.' 

"  But '  it  has  not  been  m.ade  known  everywhere  at  once. 
Why,'  you  ask,  '  is  the  knowledge  of  it  still  so  confined  ? 
What  is  to  become  of  those  who,  for  want  of  knowledge, 
cannot  exercise  faith  ?'  Might  not  the  question  be  as  well 
settled,  first.  Why  does  not  God  conduct  all  the  operations 
of  his  providence  by  miracle  ?  AVhy  does  he  operate  at  all 
by  human  means  ?  As  to  the  gradual  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity, though  it  would  be  easy  to  advance  many  conjec- 
tural reasons  for  it,  I  find  the  difiiculty,  if  it  be  one,  answered 
in  my  own  mind  by  a  reflection,  which,  I  believe,  ought  to 
satisfy  yours.  Not  only  according  to  the  declarations  of 
Scripture,  but  necessarily,  it  is  of  the  very  essence  of  Deity, 
that  his  ways  should  be  ijiscrutable.  If  our  finite  appre- 
hensions could  fathom  all  his  plans,  then  indeed  Avould  be 
realized  the  fallacious  promise  of  the  tempter  to  our  first 
parents  :  we  should  'become  as  God.'  If  we  could  under- 
stand, or  reconcile  his  transactions  in  a  thousand  other  par- 
ticulars, on  which  we  are  equally  blind ;  if  we  could,  for 
instance,  without  falling  into  Atheism,  account  in  any  other 
manner  than  that  in  which  Scripture  accounts  for  the  origin 
and  continued  prevalence  of  evil ;  if  we  could  tell  why  Om- 
nipotence has  made  the  circumstances  of  nations,  and  the 
lots  of  individuals,  and  their  grades  of  happiness  so  unequal — 
one  nation  free  and  happy,  another  enslaved  and  miserable ; 
one  individual  born  in  a  climate  mild  and  genial  as  Eden^ 
another  freezing  near  the  poles  or  burning  under  the  Ime ; 


212  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

one  almost  uninterruptedly  prosperous  and  happy,  another 
ever  unsuccessful  and  wretched  ;  and  if,  in  innumerable  other 
instances,  we  could  see  the  reason  of  circumstances  and  events 
which,  if  we  believe  in  a  God,  w^e  must  certainly  admit  to  be 
under  his  control,  then  we  might,  perhaps,  be  able  to  say 
why,  by  an  instantaneous  and  of  course  miraculous  opera- 
tion, he  does  not  communicate  the  light  of  the  gospel  to 
every  portion  of  the  globe.  I  forbear,  therefore,  to  assign 
reasons  for  the  Almighty,  which  it  has  not  been  his  pleasure 
to  reveal.  I  bow  in  silent  submission.  '  Even  so,  Father, 
for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight.'  '  We  know  not  the 
thoughts  of  the  Lord ;  neither  understand  we  his  counsels.' 
It  is  a  presumptuous  arraignment  of  his  providence  in  me  to 
doubt,  though  I  cannot  by  searching  find  out  the  reason  of 
his  ways,  that  they  are  ordered  in  infinite  wisdom  and  good- 
ness, and  will  issue  in  those  results  that  shall  most  promote 
his  glory. 

"As  to  the  condemnation  of  those  to  whom  the  gospel 
has  not  been  revealed,  your  difficulty  is  founded  on  an  as- 
sumption, to  which,  I  apprehend,  but  few  enlightened  Chris- 
tians would  accede  ;  that  is,  that  the  heathen  will  be  con- 
demned for  not  exercising  that  faith  which  his  want  of 
knowledge  makes  it  impossible  for  him  to  feel.  This  is  not 
my  creed.  St.  Paul  says,  '  When  the  Gentiles,  which  have 
not  the  law,  do  by  nature  the  thhigs  contained  in  the  law, 
these  having  not  the  law,  are  a  law  unto  themselves,  which 
show  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts ;  their 
conscience  also  bearing  witness,  and  their  thoughts  the  mean- 
while accusing,  or  else  excusing  one  another.'  The  heathen 
world  are  certainly  in  a  deplorable  state  of  ignorance  and 
wickedness,  and  every  endeavor  should  be  made  for  their 
illumination  and  conversion  ;  but  my  mind  rejects  with  ab- 
horrence the  sentiment  which  involves  them  indiscriminately 
in  a  sentence  of  condemnation.  Notwithstanding  the  pas- 
sage which  you  quote,  that '  without  faith  it  is  impossible  to 
please  God' — which  I  think  should  be  restricted  to  those 


HIS  MINISTRY.  213 

who  are  capable  of  its  exercise — there  are  many  considera- 
tions furnished  by  the  Bible  in  support  of  the  rational  con- 
clusion, that  God,  who  is  '  no  respecter  of  persons,'  will  not 
condemn,  for  the  want  of  this  grace,  those  who,  without 
fault  of  their  own,  are  incompetent  to  its  attainment.  This 
oj)inion  is  advanced  and  supported  by  Drs.  Macknight,  Whit- 
by, Clarke,  and  many  other  writers  of  unquestionable  piety 
and  learning.  It  is  assumed  in  an  approved  body  of  Calvin- 
istic  divinity  now  before  me ;  and  if  many  of  a  persuasion 
deemed  so  rigid  are  willing  to  allow,  as  the  author  declares, 
that  '  the  heathen  will  not  be  condemned  for  not  believing 
in  Christ,  whom  they  never  heard  of,  or  for  not  complying 
with  the  gospel  overture,  that  was  never  made  to  them  ;  and 
that  invincible  ignorance,  though  it  be  an  unhappiness  and 
a  consequence  of  our  fallen  state,  is  not  a  crime ;'  I  see  not 
why  we  should  perplex  ourselves  with  a  difficulty  which  is 
of  our  own  creation,  and  which  arises  not  out  of  any  just 
view  of  the  declarations  of  God's  word. 

' '  But  if  we  were  constrained  to  leave  the  question  of  the 
possible  salvation  of  unconverted  heathen  undecided,  to  me 
it  seems  not  to  aflect  that  of  solicitude  about  our  own.  Wo 
have  the  light  of  the  gospel ;  and  whatever  may  be  the  doom 
of  those  who  have  it  not,  if  we  remain  heathen  amid  the 
blaze  of  divine  light  with  which  we  are  surrounded,  we  can- 
not doubt  our  own.  And  this  remark  contains  my  answer 
to  your  difficulty  about  those  modern  sceptics,  who  appear 
to  you  to  have  been  sincere  inquirers  after  truth,  and  who, 
with  eminent  talents  for  its  discovery,  have  yet  continued 
unbelievers.  If  you  are  acquainted  with  the  writings  of 
these  persons,  I  ask  you  whether  they  seem  to  have  ever 
sought  after  truth  in  a  disposition  suited  to  its  attainment, 
or  in  a  manner  that  will  excuse  an  ignorance  which  I  can- 
not but  believe  to  be  wilful  ?  I  declare  that  my  knowledge 
of  their  writings  convinces  me,  that  their  only  search  was 
after  fresh  food  for  scepticism  ;  that  the  depravity  of  their 
hearts  is  manifest  in  the  manner  as  well  as  in  the  substance 


214  MEMOIR  OF  DH.  MILNOR. 

of  their  assaults  upon  religion  ;  and  that  there  is  no  evidence 
of  any  of  them  having  availed  themselves  of  the  assistances 
with  which  God  is  ever  ready  to  supply  real  inquirers  after 
truth.  As  a  believer  in  the  Bible,  I  give  full  credence  to 
its  declarations,  that  '  the  world  by  wisdom  knows  not  God,' 
or  his  ways  ;  that '  the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things 
of  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they  are  foohshness  unto  him  ;  nei- 
ther can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually  dis- 
cerned.' These  men  were  strangers  to  prayer,  deniers  of 
the  supernatural  light  which  we  Christians  believe  to  be 
requisite  and  attainable,  and  presumptuous  admirers  of  their 
own  natural  and  acquired  powers.  Can  it  be  wondered  that 
they  were  left  in  spiritual  blindness,  and  destined  to  endure 
the  consequences  of  wilful  unbelief  ? 

"  And  now,  madam,  will  you  allow  me,  with  a  frankness 
which  the  candor  of  your  commmiication  justifies  and  calls 
for,  to  make  an  encouraging  suggestion,  and  to  follow  it  by 
a  recommendation  of  that  course  which  I  believe  it  to  be 
your  duty  and  interest  to  pursue  ?  Many  of  your  expres- 
sions indicate  a  sensibility  that  would  seem  inconsistent  with 
actual  unbelief;  especially  that  desire  which  you  say  you 
feel  for  the  attauiment  of  a  true  faith,  and  your  aversion  to 
entertain  doubts,  which,  nevertheless,  mvoluntarily  obtrude 
themselves,  and  appear  to  be  the  causes  of  much  mental 
uneasiness  and  distress.  On  these  favorable  circumstances 
do  I  rest  my  hope — what  pleasure  will  it  give  me  to  see  it 
realized — that  God's  blessing  will  attend  your  endeavors  to 
come  to  a  better  mind. 

"  Now  the  recommendation,  with  which  I  am  encouraged 
to  follow  this  suggestion,  is  warranted  by  my  own  experi- 
ence of  its  benefits."  [Here  follows  the  account  of  his  own 
experience,  given  in  a  former  extract,  vide  pp.  87,  88  ;  after 
which  he  thus  proceeds  :  ] 

*'  I  know  the  charge  of  egotism,  to  which  this  plain  nar- 
rative would,  in  many  minds,  subject  me.  But  I  hope  I  shall 
be  acquitted  of  any  desire  to  boast  when  I  declare,  that  my 


HIS  MINISTP^Y.  215 

only  view  is  to  incite  you  to  pursue  a  course  wliich,  from  a 
persuasion  of  its  efficacy,  I  can  safely  recommend  ;  and  this, 
not  on  the  ground  of  any  very  elevated  personal  confidence 
to  which  it  has  raised  me,  hut  on  that  of  its  having  dismissed 
from  my  mind  every  shadow  of  douht  as  to  the  true  way  of 
salvation,  and  of  its  having  excited  in  my  heart  fervent 
desires  and  a  humhle  hope  of  an  ultimate  attamment  of  that 
happiness  to  which  it  leads. 

"  No  exertions  of  our  own,  unblessed  by  the  great  Su- 
preme, can  give  us  genuine  faith,  or  qualify  us  to  bring  forth 
the  fruits  of  righteousness.  After  all  that  we  have  done,  we 
shall,  if  properly  enlightened,  be  brought  to  a  simple  reliance 
on  the  merits  and  atonement  of  the  Saviour  for  acceptance 
with  God.  Still,  we  are  called  upon  to  strive  ;  and  we  are 
encouraged  to  do  so  by  many  great  and  precious  promises. 
But  if,  instead  of '  working  out  our  own  salvation  with  fear 
and  trembling,'  and  imploring  God  to  '  work  in  us  to  will 
and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure  ;'  that  is,  if  instead  of  uniting 
laborious  effort  with  implicit  faith,  we  neglect  our  awn  inter- 
ests, and  are  cavilling  at  the  revealed  declarations,  or  the 
providential  arrangements  of  God ;  if  we  entertain  every 
phantasy  which  the  enemy  of  our  souls  or  our  own  wicked 
hearts  may  raise  ;  if  we  neglect  prayer,  and  instead  of  attend- 
mg  to  our  own  souls,  and  '  striving  to  enter  in  at  the  strait 
gate,'  we  are  impatiently  asking  whether  there  be  '  few  that 
be  saved,'  or  involving  ourselves  in  other  matters  too  high 
for  us  to  reach,  we  shall  probably  be  left  to  the  delusions  of 
our  own  hearts,  and  fail  of  our  hopes  of  heaven.  0,  madam, 
as  you  value  your  soul,  let  me  entreat  you  to  turn  your 
thoughts  inward  ;  and  instead  of  employing  yourself  on  sub- 
jects which  the  wisest  heads  have  never  been  able  fully  to 
unfold,  go  to  Christ  with  the  simphcity  of  a  little  child,  and 
be  willing  to  learn  of  him.  You  will  find  one  evidence  of 
his  favor  an  ample  substitute  for  a  thousand  conjectures ; 
and  he  will  succeed  it  by  tokens  of  love,  that  shall  fill  you 
with  joy  unspeakable  and  'full  of  glory.'     For  'they  sJiall 


216  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

know,  who  follow  on  to  know  the  Lord.'  '  If  any  man  will 
do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of 
God.'  '  Wait  on  the  Lord :  be  of  good  courage ;  he  will 
strengthen  thy  heart.'  Persevering  m  your  endeavors,  you 
will  be  made  '  free  from  sin  ;'  and  becoming  the  '  servant  of 
God,  you  will  have  your  fruit  unto  holmess,  and  the  end 
everlasting  life.' 

"  I  pray  God  to  give  you  his  blessing  ;  and  remain, 
"  Your  obedient  servant,  and  affectionate  pastor, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

This  may  be  called  a  wise  as  well  as  faithful  piece  of 
Christian  teaching  and  advice  ;  and  if  she  to  whom  it  was 
addressed  be  not  finally  found  one  of  the  gems  in  Mihior's 
crown  of  rejoicing,  it  will  not  be  because  his  letter  failed  of 
the  duty  which  he  OAved  as  her  spiritual  guide. 

The  next  two  letters  also  give  us  an  interior  view  of  his 
parochial  life. 

To  the  Rev.  James  Milnor. 

"New  York,  August  18,  1817. 

"  Sir — You  will,  I  hope,  excuse  the  liberty  I  take  in 
troubling  you  with  the  perusal  of  these  lines  ;  but  the 
urgency  I  have  to  be  informed  respecting  many  points  in 
religion,  has  prompted  me  to  this  method  of  being  satisfied, 
and  must  furnish  my  excuse  ;  while  the  high  ground  on 
which  you  stand  as  an  ecclesiastic,  pointed  you  out  as  one 
fully  competent  to  satisfy  my  inquiries. 

"I  have,  within  this  last  year,  imbibed — lioiv,  I  scarcely 
know — ideas  that  vary  very  little,  if  any,  from  the  princi- 
ples of  Deism.  I  have  lately  commenced  an  acquaintance 
with  a  young  man,  who  has  advanced  many  things  to  stag- 
ger my  faith  in  the  authenticity  of  the  Bible,  and,  of  course, 
in  the  being  of  a  Saviour.  You  will  probably  start  at  a 
young  person's  avowing  so  much ;  for  I  am  but  nineteen, 
and  was  brought  up  with  strictness  in  the  Episcopal  per- 
suasion.    His  chief  argument  is  the  contradictions  wliich 


HIS  MINISTRY.  217 

appear  in  the  Bible,  and  which  would  not  he  found  had  it 
been  written  by  inspiration  of  God." 

The  letter  then  proceeds  with  a  catalogue  of  these  alleged 
contradictions  from  the  pentateuch ;  after  which  it  thus  con- 
cludes : 

"  I  have,  as  yet,  proceeded  no  farther  in  conning  the  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  Scriptures  ;  but  a  satisfactory  explanation 
of  the  preceding  passages  will  go  far,  if  not  entirely,  to  re- 
move my  doubts,  as  I  am  open  to  conviction.  I  hope  you 
will  think  me  right  in  proclaiming  my  doubts,  that  I  may 
have  them,  if  possible,  removed.  I  shall  wait  with  impa- 
tience till  I  receive  an  answer. 

"  I  remain  yours,  etc. 


"  P.  S.  Please  direct  Charles  H.  Fitz  Edmond,  to  be  left 
at  the  post-office  till  called  for." 

This  anonymous  young  sceptic  seems  to  have  been  one  of 
those  sincere  inquirers  after  truth,  who  boast  of  their  open- 
ness to  conviction,  wdiile  evidently  deeming  their  objections 
against  the  Bible  irremovable.  He  had  an  answer  probably 
different  from  what  he  expected. 

To  Charles  H.  Fitz  Edmond. 

"Beekman-street,  No.  27,  Aug.  20,  1817. 
*'  Sir — With  the  sincerest  disposition,  I  trust,  to  assist, 
so  far  as  I  am  able,  any  sincere  inquirer  after  truth,  it  will 
afford  me  very  great  pleasure,  should  such  be  your  pursuit, 
to  be  serviceable  to  you.  But  it  comports  neither  with  my 
sense  of  propriety,  nor  with  my  personal  convenience,  to  do 
this  through  the  raiedium  of  an  epistolary  correspondence, 
which  may  run  mto  much  length,  and  in  which,  for  want  of 
explanations  too  minute  to  be  put  on  paper,  misunderstand- 
ing may  take  place.  If  you  have  been  seduced  into  a  con- 
nection with  a  person  who  has  hardened  his  heart  into  Deism, 
and,  with  the  malignant  disposition  which  characterizes  the 
infidel,  is  not  content  to  destroy  his  own  soul,  but  seeks  to 

Mem.  Milnor.  1 0 


218  MEMOIR  OF   DR.  MILNOR. 

make  you  his  companion  in  misery,  I  beseech  you,  my  young 
friend,  break  off  your  intercourse  with  him  ;  seek  the  estab- 
lishment of  your  mind  in  the  most  interesting  of  all  con- 
cerns ;  and  when  God  has  enlightened  you  to  a  clear  discov- 
ery and  reception  of  religious  truth,  he  may  make  you  a 
means  of  converting  the  unhappy  young  man.  He  has  my 
prayers  that  he  may  not,  by  cold  unbelief,  experience  a  fate 
as  calamitous  as  that  of  the  Egyptian  prince,  Avhose  being 
given  over  to  the  delusions  of  his  own  heart,  instead  of  ex- 
citing a  cavil  against  the  Bible,  should  be  a  warning  to  us, 
lest  we  also  fall  into  the  same  condemnation. 

"  Every  objection  stated  in  your  letter  has  been  succes- 
sively urged  by  all  the  infidel  writers  who  have,  in  turn, 
opposed  their  puny  efforts  to  the  truth  of  God,  and  as  often 
been  with  readiness  refuted.  They  constitute  but  a  small 
part  of  the  trivial  weapons  by  which  a  system  has  been 
assailed,  whose  foundations  are  as  eternal  as  the  heavens, 
and  by  no  exertions  of  mortal  man  can  be  overthrown,  or 
even  shaken.  On  them,  as  well  as  other  difficulties,  I  shall 
be  happy  to  converse  with  you  at  any  time,  in  my  own 
house,  provided  you  are  disposed  with  seriousness  and  sui- 
cerity  to  seek  satisfaction  on  points  that  have  unhappily  dis- 
turbed your  belief  in  the  Scriptures. 

"  I  have  myself  knowai  the  evil  of  an  unbelieving  heart. 
I  bless  God  that  I  have  been  brought  by  his  mercy  into  a 
steadfastness  of  faith  that  men  and  devils  cannot  shake.  It 
is  my  daily  happiness  to  enjoy  a  confidence  that  smooths 
every  difficulty  in  life,  inspires  a  serenity  and  peace  which 
the  infidel  cannot  know,  and  directs  my  view  to  an  eternity 
of  happiness  which  God  has  reserved  for  those  who  beheve 
liis  promises,  and  devote  themselves  to  his  service.  Such, 
my  dear  sir,  will  be  your  experience,  if  you  use  those  means 
which  a  merciful  God  has  given  us  for  attaining  his  forgive- 
ness and  favor. 

"  I  am  your  sincere  well-wisher, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 


HIS  MINISTRY.  219 

Judiciously  differing  responses  to  sceptical  inquirers,  ac- 
cording as  their  appeals  were  prompted  by  a  serious  solicitude 
to  know  and  obey  the  truth,  or  by  the  spirit  of  precocious 
and  self-complacent  cavil.  It  is  evident  from  both  appeals, 
that  the  first  year  of  Mr.  Milnor's  ministry  in  St.  George's 
had  given  him  a  deep  reach  into  minds  of  various  habits ; 
and  that  his  teachings  were  working  with  power  among  the 
surrounding  elements  of  scepticism  and  unbelief,  as  well  as 
among  those  of  humble  honesty  and  earnestness  in  the  con- 
cerns of  our  higher  life. 

The  summer  of  1817  was  occupied  by  the  vestry  of  St. 
George's  in  erecting  the  Sunday-school  and  lecture  rooms, 
which  have  long  stood  on  the  rear  of  the  church-grounds  : 
rooms  consecrated  by  better  forms  than  those  of  man's  de- 
vice— the  overshadowing  presence  and  the  in  working  power 
of  God's  ever-gracious  Spirit — rooms  in  which  some  of  Mr. 
Milnor's  best  labors  were  performed,  and  many  of  his  best 
fruits  gathered. 

The  building  in  which  these  rooms  are  contained  being 
finished  and  ready  for  use,  it  was  first  opened  for  religious 
services  on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  November  9,  1817.  The 
occasion  was  one  of  abiding  interest.  It  was  an  evidence  to 
Mr.  Milnor  of  his  first  year's  prosperity  in  his  work  ;  and  it 
opened  means  by  which,  for  nearly  thirty  years  longer,  his 
labors  were  rendered  increasingly  effective  and  fruitful. 
Many  plants  of  his  heavenly  Father's  planting,  are  now 
growing  in  heaven,  whose  roots  first  struck  into  the  good 
soil  of  graciously  prepared  hearts  in  old  St.  George's  Sun- 
day-school and  lecture  room. 

From  the  summer  of  1817,  a  period  of  almost  four  years 
is,  so  far  as  letters  and  other  documentary  traces  of  his  course 
are  concerned,  an  almost  total  blank;  but  little,  touching 
that  period,  having  been  recovered  from  the  absorbing  gulf 
of  the  past.  Of  his  life,  however,  during  that  period,  a 
sufficiently  distinct  idea  may  be  formed  from  the  following 
letter. 


220  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

To  the   Rev.   C.  P.  Mcllvaine. 

"New  York,  April  9,  1821. 

•'  Rev,  and  dear  Brother — I  am  happy  to  have  it  in 
my  power  to  reciprocate  your  kindness  in  making  known  to 
me  your  friend,  Mr.  Robinson,  by  presenting  to  you  one  of 
•mine,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tyng,  a  recent  pupil  of  Bishop  Griswold, 
who  is  anxious  to  be  employed  without  delay  in  the  work  of 
an  evangelist.  I  have  thought,  my  dear  friend,  that  God 
has  given  me  an  opportunity  in  him  of  gratifying  all  Mr. 
Robinson's  wishes.  He  is  a  young  gentleman  of  good  talents 
and  acquirements  ;  of  personal  piety  and  agreeable  maimers ; 
of  decidedly  evangelical  views  ;  a  moderate  churchman,  who 
loves  his  own  communion,  but  does  not  exclude  from  his  affec- 
tions any  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity,  and  a 
pleasing  speaker.  I  am  persuaded  that  Mr.  Tyng's  heart  is  so 
much  in  the  work  as  to  promise  great  success  to  his  exertions ; 
and  that,  should  he  become  an  inmate  of  our  friend's  family, 
he  will  commend  himself  to  their  friendship  and  esteem. 

"  Although  I  feel  myself  very  much  to  blame  in  delaying 
so  long  to  write  to  you,  yet  I  hope  you  are  prepared  to  receive 
an  apology  which  will  mitigate  in  some  degree  the  severity 
of  your  censure.  Since  last  fall,  I  have  had  two  lectures  in 
the  week,  besides  my  services  on  Sunday  ;  catechetical  exer- 
cises ;  superintendence  oifive  Sunday-schools  ;  various  agen- 
cies in  public  institutions ;  and  from  my  peculiar  situation 
here,  a  greater  amount  of  parochial  and  extra  duty  than 
usually  falls  to  the  lot  of  a  single  presbyter.  I  do  not  men- 
tion these  things  boastingly.  Alas,  I  am  afllictingly  sensible 
how  little  I  do  for  Him  who  has  done  so  much  for  me.  A 
better  qualified  man  would,  no  doubt,  with  much  greater 
facility  get  through  such  a  course  of  duty  as  that  in  which  I 
am  engaged.  But  for  me,  the  situation  which  I  fill  is  an 
arduous  one,  and  requires  my  unremitted  and  laborious  at- 
tention to  go  through  its  exactions  with  any  tolerable  satis- 
faction to  my  own  mind. 

"  I  wish  I  could  give  you  more  favorable  accounts  than 


HIS  MINISTRY.  221 

I  honestly  can  of  the  state  of  spiritual  things  amongst  us. 
Lultewarmness  and  formality,  error  in  doctrine  and  latitu- 
dinarianism  in  practice,  deform,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
all  our  churches.  In  all  of  them  are  to  be  found  a  few  who 
have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal ;  but  I  am  afraid  our  city, 
large  as  it  is,  would  not,  out  of  the  Episcopal  churches,  fur- 
nish the  prophet's  number.  In  St.  George's,  we  continue 
to  have  a  goodly  number  of  devoted,  praying  people  ;  our 
Sunday-schools  are  flourishing ;  and  every  season  of  com- 
munion exhibits  some  addition  to  the  number  of  Christ's  true 
disciples.  The  congregation  have  now,  for  near  five  years, 
been  proof  against  every  attempt  to  sow  dissension  among 
them  ;  and  those  who  have  not  experimentally  felt  its  power, 
are  still  willing  to  hear  the  truth.  But  what  cause  of  grief 
is  it  to  any  minister,  whose  heart's  desire  and  prayer  is  the 
salvation  of  his  people,  to  see  so  many,  young  and  old,  still 
strangers  to  a  crucified  Saviour ;  still  living  to  the  world ; 
still  unmindful  of  the  interests  of  their  never-dying  souls.  It 
is  a  ground  of  unspeakable  gratitude  that  any  should,  through 
the  divine  blessing  on  our  labors,  be  plucked  as  brands  from 
the  burning ;  but  when  we  are  filled  with  a  sense  of  the 
value  of  the  souls  committed  to  our  charge,  how  feelingly 
alive  should  we  be  to  the  consideration  of  the  immense  dan- 
ger to  ourselves,  if  one  be  lost  through  our  negligence  or 
remissness  I  God  grant,  my  endeared  fellow-laborer,  that 
neither  you  nor  I  may  be  the  subject  of  this  awful  guilt. 

"  If  much  more  serious  consequences  than  I  have  occasion 
to  apprehend,  were  to  follow  my  adherence  to  that  ministerial 
course  which  the  finger  of  God  marked  out  for  me  at  its 
beginning,  and  to  which,  by  divine  grace,  I  have  been  ena- 
bled hitherto  to  keep,  I  trust  nothing  would  terrify  or  allure 
me  from  it ;  unless,  which  may  God  prevent,  I  should  merit 
the  withdrawing  of  those  influences  from  above,  which  ale  no 
can  enable  any  of  us  to  persevere  to  the  end. 

"  Your  aflectionate  brother, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 


222  MEMOIU  OF   DR.  MILNOE.. 

As  to  the  account,  contained  in  the  foregomg  letter,  of 
the  engrossing  character  of  his  avocations,  it  might  be  taken 
and  spread  over  his  entire  life  in  New  York,  and  be  found  a 
sufficiently  accurate  description  of  the  whole.  His  thorough 
business  habits  before  he  entered  the  ministry,  made  him  a 
thorough  business  man  after  his  entrance.  Wherever  eccle- 
siastical interests  called  for  business  talents,  he  was  sure  to 
be  called  ;  except,  indeed,  in  those  quarters  where  opposition 
to  his  theological  views  and  his  ministerial  course  kept  him, 
to  some  extent,  out  of  posts  of  labor  which  he  might  other- 
wise have  filled  with  profit.  This,  however,  only  left  him  a 
more  available  man  in  the  general  religious  institutions  of 
the  city,  with  many  of  which  he  became,  as  years  rolled  by, 
more  and  more  closely  identified,  and  through  which  he  be- 
came more  and  more  widely  useful.  In  consequence  of  his 
rare  qualifications  for  business,  he  became  emphatically  a 
busy  man,  not  in  the  select  world  of  letters  and  of  author- 
ship, but  in  the  great  world  of  action  and  of  Uve  results. 
He  became  embodied  in  the  living  Christianity  of  his  age, 
and  his  memoirs  will  be  found  best  written,  not  on  the  pages 
of  any  book,  but  in  the  effects  of  the  many  institutions  which 
he  served — in  the  souls  of  those  multitudes  whose  salvation 
he  has  been,  and  yet  will  be,  one  of  the  instruments  of  se- 
curing. 

During  the  period  which  we  have  seen  so  blank  of  let 
ters  and  other  documentary  traces  of  his  course,  he  received 
from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
divinity. 

Passing,  now,  with  the  current  of  time,  we  meet  an  event 
which  suggests  a  reflection.  No  man  is  perfect.  Perhaps 
he  is  onost  perfect,  or  most  likely  to  become  perfect,  who 
cannot  sleep  well,  till  in  the  ear  of  a  wronged  fellow-Tiian, 
he  has  acknowledged  his  infirmity,  and  any  act  of  hijustice 
into  which  it  may  have  betrayed  him.  Miserable  sinners 
that  we  are,  we  can  confess  our  trespasses  to  God  with  ten- 
fold more  courage  than  that  with  which  we  can  acknowledge 


HIS  MINISTRY.  223 

a  wrong  to  2i  fclloiv-sinncr .  Dr.  Milnor  was  not  perfect,  but 
lie  was  perfect  enough  to  do  this  difficult  tiling.  Witness 
the  following  interchange  of  letters,  which  are  to  the  credit 
of  both  the  parties  concerned.  The  individual  whom  Dr. 
Milnor  addressed,  is  still  living ;  his  name,  therefore,  is 
withheld. 

To  the  Hey.  Dr.  . 

"  Beekman-street,  Wednesday  Evening,  Nov.  13,  1822. 

"  My  dear  Sip.. — I  have  felt  concerned,  since  I  left  you 
this  afternoon,  lest,  under  a  momentary  warmth  of  feeling, 
excited  by  the  expression  of  opinions  on  your  part,  in  refer- 
ence to  Bible  societies,  for  which  I  was  wholly  unprepared, 
I  may  have  made  a  remark  or  two  calculated  to  wound  you. 
The  institutions  which  you  condemned,  have  a  stronger  hold 
on  my  affections  than  any  in  existence  of  merely  human  ori- 
gin ;  and  to  their  support  I  have  devoted,  and  shall  continue 
to  devote  my  best  exertions,  under  the  impression  that,  next 
to  my  immediate  duties  as  the  pastor  of  a  congregation,  I 
can  in  no  other  way  so  efficiently  subserve  the  cause  of 
Christ.  But  on  this  subject  you  have  a  right  to  your  opin- 
ion, as  I  have  to  mine ;  and  therefore,  though  I  lament  the 
change  of  sentiment  which  you  professed,  yet  I  also  regret 
that  any  allusion  to  it  should  have  been  made,  in  the  rapid 
conversation  which  passed  between  us,  that  might  interfere 
with  our  future  good  understanding  upon  the  many  subjects 
in  which,  as  ministers  and  Christians,  we  no  doubt  agree. 

"Although  I  acknowledge  myself  as  tenacious  as  any 
man  of  opinions  formed  after  as  long  consideration  as  I  have 
given  to  the  Bible  cause,  and  shall  not  shrink,  on  all  proper 
occasions,  from  their  maintenance  ;  yet  I  wish  to  hold  these, 
and  all  others,  in  a  spirit  of  meekness,  and  if  at  any  time 
betrayed  into  improper  warmth  of  expression,  it  will  give  me 
as  great  pleasure  as  it  now  does,  to  own  my  sorrow.  I  write 
to  you  in  Christian  confidence,  being,  with  much  regard, 
"  Your  brother  in  the  Lord, 

"  JAMES  MILNOR." 


224  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor. 

"New  York,  Nov.  18,  1822. 

"Rev.  and  dear  Sir — I  have  been  prevented,  by  an 
engagement  which  completely  occupied  my  thoughts,  from 
replying  to  your  note  of  the  13th  inst.,  and  beg  you  will 
excuse  the  delay. 

"  My  feelings,  it  is  true,  were  somewhat  wounded  by 
your  remarks,  particularly  in  imputing  to  me  unworthy  mo- 
tives for  changing  my  opinion  on  the  subject  upon  wliich  we 
formerly  agreed,  but  now  differ.  But  attributing  those  re- 
marks to  a  momentary  excitement,  which  it  was  very  natural 
to  expect,  I  did  not  sutler  the  unpleasant  impression  to  remain 
on  my  mind  ;  and  I  most  cordially  reciprocate  your  desire, 
that,  though  we  may  continue  to  disagree  in  opinion  on  a 
particular  mode  of  disseminating  religious  knowledge,  yet 
nothing  that  has  passed  should  interrupt  the  harmony  and 
brotherly  love  which  ought  to  subsist  between  us  as  ministers 
of  the  same  church  and  disciples  of  the  same  Lord. 

"  In  haste,  but  Avith  great  respect  and  esteem,  I  remain, 
"  Yours, 


Here,  again,  another  period,  of  more  than  two  years, 
must  be  passed  over,  with  no  other  notices  of  his  life  than 
those  which  lie  on  the  silent  records,  and  live  m  the  spirit- 
ual results  of  his  ceaseless  activities. 

At  the  beginning  of  1825,  traces  of  his  course  again  be 
come  visible.  He  was  then  suddenly  seized  with  gout  in 
the  stomach ;  and  the  attack  proved  so  severe  that,  at  last, 
he  seemed  to  be  yielding  up  liis  spirit.  His  family,  his 
physician,  himself,  believed,  on  Sunday  morning,  that  while 
his  parishioners  were  mournfully  entering  the  doors  of  their 
sanctuary,  he  was  in  articulo  77iortis,  passing  through  the 
very  gates  of  death.  Indeed,  it  was  reported  through  the 
city  that  his  decease  had  actually  taken  place ;  and  the 
writer  of  this,  who  was  then  a  member  of  the  General  The- 
ological Seminary,  remembers  with  great  distinctness,  the 


HIS  MINISTRY.  225 

sensation  which  ran  through  the  hearts,  making  itself  visi- 
ble in  the  saddened  countenances,  and  audible  in  the  low- 
sighs  of  his  fellow-students,  when  the  announcement  came 
that  morning  that  Dr.  Milnor  was  dead.  The  afflictive  in- 
telligence, however,  was  soon  contradicted  ;  and  it  was  found 
that,  at  the  time  when  he  was  pronounced  in  a  dying  state, 
he  was  passing  a  critical  point  in  his  disease,  after  which  he 
began  sensibly  to  recover.  In  the  rapid  progress  of  his  dis- 
ease, he  sunk,  lower  and  lower,  till  his  feet  touched  the  earth 
at  the  very  brink  of  the  grave  ;  but  at  that  point,  as  if  the 
touch  had  brought  him  where  the  power  of  God  was  wait- 
ing to  arrest  his  descent  into  the  dark  chambers  of  the  dead, 
he  at  once  rebounded,  and  by  slow  but  steady  degrees  sprang 
up  again  to  the  cheerful  day  of  health  and  duty.  His  first 
sermon  after  his  illness  was  preached  the  13th  of  March. 

The  peril  through  which  he  thus  passed,  made  the  public 
aware  of  the  great  value  of  his  character  and  influence  ;  and 
showed,  in  the  most  touching  manner,  the  depth  and  strength 
of  the  hold  which  he  had  obtained  upon  the  respect,  the  love, 
the  veneration,  of  his  fellow-citizens.  For  weeks,  the  whole 
religious  community  of  New  York,  without  distinction  of 
name,  were  laboring  in  prayer  for  him  unto  God.  From 
Sabbath  to  Sabbath  scarcely  a  sanctuary  was  open  in  which 
the  throne  of  mercy  was  not  besieged  with  most  earnest  sup- 
plications in  his  behalf.  The  lecture-room  and  prayer-meet 
ings  of  his  own  dear  flock,  in  particular,  became  almost  daily 
scenes  of  solemn,  tearful,  trembling  wrestlings  with  the  angel 
of  tfie  covenant,  that  yet  a  little  while  he  might  be  spared. 
Faith,  hope,  pleading  faith,  humble  hope,  were  there ;  bowed 
down,  indeed,  and  almost  awed  to  silence  ;  but  laboring  all 
the  more  intensely  and  strugglingly,  from  the  very  pressure 
under  which  they  bent ;  and  seeming  to  say,  though  in  words 
it  came  not,  "  Lord,  we  cannot  give  him  up ;  his  work  is  not 
done  :  we  cannot  give  him  up."  And  the  Lord  heard  and 
spared ;  and  many  were  the  adoring  disciples,  who  thence- 
forth went  on  their  way,  and  still  go  on  their  way,  strong  in 
10* 


226  MEMOIR  t)F  DR.  MILNOR. 

the  feeling  and  tlie  faith  that  the  twenty  added  years  of  their 
pastor's  life  Avere  the  gracious  gift  of  a  Father  in  heaven  to 
those  unwontedly  earnest  and  persevering  prayers. 

But  it  will  be  asked,  what  were  his  otvn  views  while 
passing  through  the  scenes  now  described  ?  His  own  pen 
and  those  of  his  nearest  observers  shall  answer.  Here  is  a 
letter,  which  he  wrote  from  his  chamber  after  he  had  re- 
gained strength  to  write. 

To  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Mcllvaine. 

"New  York,  Feb.  22,  1825. 

•*  My  dear  Brother — I  thank  you  for  your  kind  favor 
of  the  15th.  In  the  eighth  week  of  confinement  to  my 
chamber,  it  is  refreshing  to  my  spirits  to  hear  from  my 
Christian  friends  ;  and  among  them  I  can  name  no  one 
whose  letters  are  more  acceptable  than  yours. 

"  On  the  evening  of  the  3d  ult.  I  was  suddenly  attacked 
in  the  street  with  the  gout  in  my  chest,  and  soon  became  so 
ill  as  to  be  obliged  to  take  shelter  in  the  house  of  a  friend 
until  I  could  be  conveyed  home  in  a  carriage.  The  com- 
plaint continued  to  resist  every  effort  for  its  removal,  and 
daily  to  increase  in  violence  until  the  Sunday  following  its 
commencement,  although  four  of  our  firstrate  physicians 
were  in  attendance  upon  me,  and  their  exertions  unremit- 
ted. On  the  day  just  mentioned,  the  impression  of  all 
around  me  was,  that  a  few  moments  must  terminate  my 
existence.  Such  was  my  own  persuasion  ;  and,  blessed  be 
God,  the  prospect  was  unaccompanied  by  the  least  alarm. 
There  was  given  me  not  only  a  spirit  of  calm  submission 
and  quiet  resignation  to  the  divine  will,  but  a  hope  full  of 
immortality.  0  how  precious  was  the  Saviour  to  my  re- 
joicing soul  in  that  never-to-be-forgotten  hour.  "With  what 
an  unshaken  faith,  as  a  helpless,  heU-deserving  sinner,  was 
I  enabled  to  rest  my  assurance  of  pardon  and  expectations 
of  approaching  glory  on  his  righteousness  and  blood.  Al- 
though drenched  with  medicines,  which,  under  other  cir- 


HIS  MINISTilY.  227 

cumstances,  would  not  only  liave  taken  away  my  reason, 
but  been  destructive  of  life  itself,  yet  my  understanding  was 
unimpaired,  and  my  speech  articulate  and  clear  ;  so  that 
I  was  permitted  to  bear  testimony  before  my  surrounding 
friends  to  the  unspeakable  consolations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to 
the  unfailing  faithfulness  of  God,  and  to  the  abundant  love 
of  the  Redeemer,  of  all  which  I  had  the  joyful  experience. 

"  After  an  awful  season  of  bodily  suffering,  during  the 
whole  of  which  faith  in  a  crucified  Saviour  was  triumphant, 
my  pains  were,  for  a  short  tione,  alleviated ;  but  it  proved 
to  be  merely  a  transfer  of  the  disease  from  the  chest  to  the 
bowels,  which  by  no  means  lessened  the  prospect  of  dissolu- 
tion ;  and  when  it  again  returned  to  its  original  seat,  every 
hope  seemed  to  vanish  from  the  minds  of  my  mourning  rel- 
atives and  friends.  But  God  was  pleased  to  answer  the 
prayers  of  his  believing  people,  and  to  spare  me,  perhaps  for 
some  further  usefulness  in  the  church.  A  long  life  of  the 
utmost  devotion  to  his  service,  if  allowed  me,  will  very  in- 
adequately repay  the  manifestations  of  his  loving  kmdness, 
with  which,  during  this  providential  visitation,  I  have  been 
favored. 

"  I  am  now  quite  well  as  it  regards  my  general  health  ; 
but  have  had  several  slight  attacks  of  gout  in  my  feet  during 
my  convalescence,  which,  added  to  the  excoriations  occa- 
sioned by  blisters  and  mustard  applications,  disable  m.e  from 
walking  more  than  a  turn  or  two  at  a  time  across  my  cham- 
ber. I  endeavor  to  be  patient  under  this  long  suspension  of 
the  delightful  duties  of  the  ministry  ;  but  it  is  somewhat  ot 
a  trial. 

"  Kind  regards  to  Mrs.  Mcllvaine,  and  to  all  our  brethren. 
"  Affectionately  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOU." 

Here  is  another  document,  from  his  family  physician  Dr. 
Steams,  who,  after  the  year  1821,  attended  him  through  all 
his  sufferings  from  repeated  attacks  of  the  gout. 

"These  attacks,"  says  Dr.  Stearns,  "however  painful, 


228  MEIvIOIE,  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

never  disturbed  that  placid  equanimity  which  so  remarkably 
characterized  his  whole  deportment  in  every  condition  ol 
life.  Always  cheerful,  always  communicative  wliile  strength 
remained,  he  improved  every  opportunity  for  producing  recip- 
rocal feelings  in  others.  In  1825,  the  gout,  for  the  first 
time,  was  translated  from  his  feet  to  his  chest.  This  hap- 
pened while  he  was  walking  in  the  street.  He  was  imme- 
diately taken  into  an  adjoining  house,  and  thence  conveyed 
home.  A  few  minutes  after  his  arrival,  I  found  him  labor- 
ing under  a  great  oppression  in  his  chest,  a  great  difficulty 
of  breathing,  and  intense  agony.  His  symptoms  were  of 
the  most  dangerous  character  ;  and  the  paroxysms  continued 
to  increase  until  the  following  Sunday,  when  the  disease 
assumed  its  most  critical  form.  So  violent  were  the  parox- 
ysms, and  so  short  the  intervals,  that,  upon  every  succeed- 
ing attack,  it  seemed  impossible  for  him  to  survive.  Con- 
scious that  every  breath  might  be  his  last,  he  improved  every 
interval  of  relief  in  expressing  his  resignation  and  his  reli- 
ance upon  divine  grace.  Never  did  I  hear  such  impressive 
words  from  a  dying  man.  The  solemnity  of  the  scene,  the 
anguish  of  his  countenance,  now  and  then  yielding  to  smiles, 
an  index  to  the  peace  within,  like  the  occasional  brilliancy 
of  the  sun  shining  through  a  dark  cloud,  his  great  efibrts  to 
speak,  and  his  deep-toned  utterances,  made  impressions  never 
to  be  effaced,  melted  every  heart,  sufiused  eveiy  eye,  and 
palsied  every  tongue.  The  solemn  silence  was  never  broken, 
save  when  he  spoke.  Often  and  impressively  did  he  bear 
witness  to  the  great  truths  Avhich  he  had  preached,  and  often 
and  fervently  did  he  repeat  his  love  for  his  congregation. 
Addressing  me,  he  said,  '  Tell  them  how  I  love  them  ;  and 
that,  if  God  spare  my  life,  I  will  improve  it  in  doing  more 
good  than  I  liave  done.  Tell  them,  also,  to  call  a  successor 
who  will  preach  the  same  evangelical  doctrines  which  I  have 
preached,  and  not  a  formalist.'  And  then  he  exclaimed,  '0 
my  precious  Jesus.  How  I  love  my  God.  How  I  love  the 
Son  of  his  love.     How  I  love  the  Holy  Comforter.' 


HIS  MINISTRY.  229 

"  At  another  interval,  addressing  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lyell,  he 
gave  him  the  following  message  for  Bishop  Hobart,  who  was 
then  in  Europe.  '  Tell  the  bishop  I  have  always  loved  him 
from  our  earhest  acquaintance ;  that,  although  I  have  been 
obhged  to  difier  in  opinion  with  him  on  some  points,  partic- 
ularly in  reference  to  Bible  societies,  yet  I  have  always  loved 
and  respected  him.  I  did  think  he  had  done  wrong  in  intro- 
ducing my  name  into  the  controversy  with  Mr.  Jay ;  but  I 
freely  forgive  him.  Tell  him,  also,  that  I  have  never  been 
the  author  of  any  publication  against  him.  Although  I  have 
been  often  urged  by  some  of  my  friends  to  do  so,  yet  I  have 
never,  in  opposition  to  him,  put  pen  to  paper.' 

"  Such  was  our  beloved  rector,  and  such  the  evidence 
which  he  exhibited  of  the  true  Christian  character,  during 
that  dangerous  illness  when  he  and  all  around  him  supposed 
that  he  was  on  the  verge  of  death. 

"JOHN  STEARNS." 

Here,  finally,  is  another,  though  a  briefer  note,  from  one 
who  bore  to  him  a  still  nearer  relation,  and  who  was  his 
medical  attendant  for  several  of  the  last  years  of  his  life. 
The  note  is  from  the  "  HecoUections"  of  his  son. 

"  How  often  have  I  seen  his  Christian  faith  and  hope 
tested,  when  sufiering  excruciating  torture,  which,  appar- 
ently, death  only  could  relieve  I  That  faith  never  wavered, 
that  hope  never  sunk  ;  but  steadily  the  Christian  soldier  bore 
himself  through  the  conflict.  The  infidel  may  smile  at  the 
assertion,  but  it  is  certainly  evident,  that  the  efficacy  of 
prayer  was  strikingly  manifested,  when,  in  his  roost  dreadful 
attack — his  case  surrendered  as  hopeless  by  the  ablest  phy- 
sicians— the  united  prayers,  not  only  of  his  own  church,  but 
of  Christians  of  other  denominations,  went  up  to  the  mercy- 
seat,  and  the  hand  of  the  destroyer  was  suddenly  stayed.  1 
remember,  that  on  the  Sunday  when  his  death  was  momen- 
tarily expected,  it  was  proposed  to  stop  the  ringing  of  his 
church-bell,"  (the  parsonage  being  closely  alongside  of  St. 
George's  tower  :)  "  '  No,  no,'  he  murmured  ;  '  let  it  ring  on  : 


230  MEMOir.  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

to  me  there  is  no  sweeter  sound  on  earth,  I  shall  soon  listen 
to  the  harmonies  of  heaven.'"  [Not  so  soon,  dear  saint: 
even  then  prayer  was  entering  into  the  ear  of  the  Lord  of 
Sabaoth,  and  he  was  yet  to  live.]  "  Like  good  old  Heze- 
kiah,"  continues  the  "  Recollections, "  "  he  was  spared  for 
longer  years.     His  measure  of  usefulness  was  not  yet  full." 

Dr.  Milnor  soon  preached  his  first  sermon  in  St.  George's 
after  his  long  confinement.  The  interest  of  the  occasion  may 
possibly  be  conceived,  though  not  easily  described.  His  afiec- 
tionate  congregation  received  him  as  a  messenger  from  heav- 
en, come  back  to  speak  to  them  of  things  which  he  had  all 
but  seen  and  heard  ;  while  he,  on  his  own  part,  looked  like 
one  new-born  into  the  world.  His  face  shone  with  a  heav- 
enly radiance ;  so  freshly  beautiful  was  the  glow  of  new 
health,  and  so  joyous,  so  divinely  peaceful  the  expression 
which  the  inner  man  sent  out,  to  talk  silently  through  his 
transparent  countenance  with  his  devoutly  listening  flock 
And  then,  from  the  fulness  of  the  heart  the  mouth  spake ; 
and  his  words  had,  plainly,  the  same  secret  with  his  looks. 
Twenty-two  years  ago  that  scene  was  present,  and  that 
sermon  preached.  During  that  time  ivorcls  have  passed 
away  ;  but  the  messenger  from  the  borders  of  the  grave ; 
the  face  which  looked  as  if  it  had  just  come,  not  from  Sinai, 
but  from  Zion  ;  the  feelings,  which  rose  fresh  and  pute  from 
their  spring,  as  though  they  flowed,  not  through  a  defiling 
world,  but  from  a  heaven  close  by- — these  are  still  like  things 
of  yesterday,  not  only  to  the  writer,  but  also  to  multitudes 
besides. 

It  was,  while  yet  in  his  chamber,  though  able  to  attend 
to  various  afliiirs,  that  he  received  a  visit  from  some  of  those 
who  were  most  active  in  the  steps  which  its  friends  were 
then  taking  towards  the  formation  of  the  American  Tract 
Society.  As  this  truly  great  institution  is  founded  on  the 
principle  of  publishing  those  religious  works  only,  in  the  cir- 
culation of  which  all  evangelical  Christians  may  unite,  the 
object  of  this  visit  was  to  enlist  Dr.  Mihior  in  its  organiza- 


HIS   MINISTRY.  231 

tion  and  support,  as  a  suitable  representative  of  the  Episco- 
pal church.  Weak  as  he  still  was,  he  entered  with  zeal  into 
the  proposed  measure,  and  became,  from  the  first,  one  of  the 
founders,  and  to  the  end  of  his  life,  one  of  the  most  active 
officers  of  the  Society. 

The  following  account  of  the  visit  just  mentioned,  from 
the  pen  of  one  of  the  visitors,  with  a  few  other  notices  con- 
nected with  the  same  period,  will  be  read  with  interest. 

"  When  I  came  to  this  city,"  says  the  Uev.  Mr.  Hallock, 
Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Society,  "  as  a  medium  of 
communication  between  the  Tract  Societies  then  existing  in 
New  York  and  Boston,  Dr.  Milnor  lay  apparently  at  death's 
door ;  and  the  hope  of  his  recovery  seemed  to  rest  much  in 
the  unceasing  prayer,  ofiered  by  Christians  of  different  name, 
that  he  might  yet  be  spared  to  the  Church  of  God.  When 
he  had  so  far  recovered  that  he  could  be  seen  in  his  chamber, 
we  had  drafted  a  Constitution  of  the  proposed  Society  ;  and 
I  called  on  him  with  Mr.  Arthur  Tappan,  to  lay  the  subject 
before  him.  Frorai  the  public  reports  of  his  relations  to  insti- 
tutions already  existing,  I  had  imagined  that  he  was  a  very 
grave  and  aged  father  in  the  Church,  whose  aspect  and 
manners  might  indicate  him  as  belonging  rather  to  the  past 
than  to  the  present  age.  Judge  of  my  surprise,  when,  as 
health  was  rapidly  returning,  and  the  delicate  flush  on  his 
cheek  was  perhaps  increased  by  his  late  confinement,  I  be- 
held all  the  bloom  of  youth,  and  one  of  the  most  bland, 
buoyant,  and  attractive  countenances,  I  had  ever  seen;  with 
manners  correspondent,  and  breathing  out  a  heart  full  of 
benevolence.  He  entered  at  once  into  the  design  ;  took  the 
draft  of  the  proposed  Constitution  ;  examined  carefully  every 
item ;  suggested  a  few  verbal  improvements,  which  yet  re- 
main in  it ;  and,  while  he  intimated  a  fear  that  Christians 
might  not  be  ready  to  engage  in  such  a  union,  expressed  his 
strong  and  decided  wish  that,  seeking  direction  from  God, 
the  enterprise  might  go  forward,  and  his  own  willingness  to 
do  whatever  he  could  to  promote  so  excellent  a  design." 


232  MEMOIR   OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

A  feeling  in  favor  of  organizing  a  national  institution  at 
New  York,  awoke  so  early  as  the  preceding  August,  in  tlie 
summer  of  1824.  At  that  time,  important  and  flourishing, 
but  separate  Tract  Societies  existed  both  at  Boston  and  at 
New  York  ;  and  the  question  at  first  was,  which  of  the  two 
should  become  auxiliary  to  the  other.  This  question,  how- 
ever, w^as  ultimately  decided  by  a  determination  to  organize 
a  national  institution  at  New  York,  independent  of  both ; 
and  that  to  it  both  should  be  invited  to  become  auxiliary. 
Negotiation  was  somewhere  near  this  point  when  Mr.  Hal- 
lock  and  his  friend  made  their  visit  to  Dr.  Milnor's  chamber. 
Thenceforward,  progress  in  the  formation  of  a  national  Tract 
Society  was  rapid.  On  the  1 1th  of  March,  a  public  meeting 
of  the  friends  of  the  cause  from  New  York  and  its  vicinity, 
preliminary  to  the  organization  of  such  a  Society,  was  held 
at  the  City  Hotel ;  at  which  a  temporary  Executive  Com- 
mittee, and  officers  for  the  receipt  and  management  of  funds, 
were  appouited ;  and  twelve  thousand  five  hundred  dollars, 
soon  after  raised  to  about  twenty-five  thousand,  towards  the 
building  of  a  Tract  House,  were  subscribed.  On  the  15th 
of  March,  the  first  meeting  of  the  temporary  Executive  Com- 
mittee was  held  at  Dr.  Milnor's  study,  apparently  in  accom- 
modation to  the  still  tender  state  of  his  health,  when  he  was 
requested  to  act  as  their  chairman. 

On  the  10th  of  the  following  May,  delegates  from  various 
Tract  Societies  throughout  the  United  States  met  in  New 
York,  at  the  call  of  the  Corresponding  Secretary.  Of  this 
meeting,  also,  Dr.  Milnor  was  appointed  chairman,  and  the 
Constitution  of  the  proposed  Society  was  calmly  considered 
and  matured.  The  next  day,  May  11,  1625,  at  a  large 
public  meeting  in  the  City  Hotel,  the  Society  was  solemnly 
organized,  by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  elec- 
tion of  officers  ;  and  immediately  afterwards  the  corner-stone 
of  the  Society's  house  was  laid.  Dr.  Mihior  was  placed  on 
the  Executive  Committee;  was  made  chaimian  of  that  and 
also  of  the  Pubhshing  Committee,  and  held  both  places  till 


HIS  MINISTRY.  233 

tlie  day  of  his  death  :  places,  too,  of  the  highest  importance, 
and  filled  with  large  and  most  fully  accredited  ability. 

Very  soon  after  this,  the  first  anniversary  meeting  of  the 
Society,  a  delegation  from  the  national  institution  in  New 
York  was  appointed,  and  proceeded  to  Boston,  to  meet  a 
delegation  from  that  city,  for  the  purpose  of  finally  settling 
the  deeply  interesting  question,  whether  the  American  Tract 
Society,  located  in  Boston,  would  identify  itself  with  the  na- 
tional society  in  New  York,  which  had  taken  the  same  name. 
Of  this  delegation  also,  Dr.  Milnor  was  made  chairman.  The 
joint  action  of  the  two  delegations  was  completed  before  the 
30th  of  May  ;  and  Dr.  Milnor's  influence  on  the  happy  result 
which  followed,  was  felt  and  acknowledged.  Twenty  years 
after  this.  Dr.  Woods,  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  one 
of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  Society,  writing  to  apologize  for 
his  absence  from  the  anniversary  meeting  in  1845,  thus  al- 
ludes to  the  doings  of  this  delegation  in  1825  : 

"  I  take  this  occasion  to  express  my  increasing  conviction 
of  the  usefulness  of  the  Society,  and  my  entire  confidence  in 
the  wisdom,  integrity,  and  untirmg  diligence  of  those  who 
manage  its  concerns.  It  is  one  of  my  comforts,  that  I  had 
a  part  in  the  first  planning  and  early  labors  of  the  Tract  So- 
ciety. I  remember  with  unutterable  satisfaction  the  time 
when  we  met,  in  Boston,  a  committee  from  New  York  to 
deliberate  on  the  best  way  of  promoting  the  Tract  cause, 
and  when  we  knelt  together  in  the  parlor  to  seek  wisdom 
from  above,  and  our  dearly  beloved  Dr.  Milnor  led  us  in 
prayer.  The  Lord  be  praised  that  that  excellent  man  was 
continued  to  us  so  long ;  and  that,  by  his  labors  and  prayers, 
and  holy  example,  he  did  so  much  to  promote  the  prosperity 
of  the  American  Tract  Society." 


234  MEMOIR  OF  BU.  MILNOR 


SECTION   III. 

We  approach  now  that  part  of  Dr.  Mihior's  ministerial 
life  which  will  be  somewhat  more  copiously  illustrated  by 
his  own  letters.  The  first  which  occur  shed  a  beautiful 
light  on  that  trait  in  his  character  which  presents  him  as 
the  generous  and  fatherly  patron  of  those  young  brethren  in 
the  ministry,  and  in  their  studies  for  the  ministry,  whom 
Providence  brought  within  the  sphere  of  his  influence  and 
kind  offices.  These  letters,  indeed,  were  addressed  to  a  sin 
gle  student ;  but  his  was  a  case  by  no  means  solitary.  Oth- 
ers, as  well  as  the  individual  alluded  to,  have  had  occasion 
to  take  grateful  knowledge  of  the  lovely  trait  about  to  be 
exhibited. 

To  a  Theological  Student. 

"St.  George's,  June  20,  1825. 

"  My  dear  Brother — The  object  of  the  present  brief 
communication  is  to  assure  you  of  the  lively- interest  and 
sincere  sympathy  which  have  been  awakened  in  my  breast 
towards  you  by  our  interview  on  Saturday  evening,  and  to 
proffer  you,  along  with  my  earnest  prayers  in  your  behalf  at 
the  throne  of  grace,  any  personal  service  that  may  be  helpful 
to  you  in  your  future  course. 

"With  all  the  difficulties  that  may  arise  out  of  your 
happy  change  of  views  on  the  most  interesting  of  all  con- 
cerns, I  am  persuaded  you  will  find  that  you  have  chosen 
the  path  of  true  wisdom  ;  and  that  God,  who  has  called  you 
by  his  grace  from  darkness  to  light,  will  fulfil,  in  your  re- 
joicing experience,  all  the  encouraging  promises  of  his  word 
to  his  faithful  servants.  How  thankful  will  you  have  rea- 
son to  be,  if  besides  filling  your  own  heart  with  a  hope  that 
maketh  not  ashamed,  he  should  honor  you,  even  before  the 
commencement  of  your  public  ministry,  by  making  you  an 
instniment  of  good  to  some  of  your  present  associates.     How 


HIS  MINISTRY.  235 

delightful  a  hope  to  indulge,  that  holy  example,  and  a  word 
fitly  dropped,  and  fervent  prayer — means  which  I  trust  a 
gracious  God  will  enable  you  to  use — may,  with  his  bless- 
ing, be  rendered  effectual  in  bringing  to  right  views  of  divine 
truth  even  one  of  your  fellow-students.  How  animating  the 
thought,  that  the  consequence  of  so  happy  an  occurrence 
may  be  the  salvation  of  multitudes,  whom,  instead  of  helping 
onward,  by  his  own  errors  in  doctrine,  to  their  everlasting 
ruin,  he  may,  by  his  work  of  faith  and  labor  of  love  in  the 
ministry  of  reconciliation,  conduct  to  eternal  blessedness  in 
heaven. 

"  I  am  well  aware  of  the  delicacy  of  your  situation,  and 
how  much  religious  prudence  and  discretion  will  be  requisite 
in  union  with  the  desire  which,  as  a  disciple  of  Christ,  I 
know  you  must  feel  for  his  honor  and  the  truths  of  his  glo- 
rious gospel.  My  counsel  is,  that  you  should  ever  act  in  the 
spirit  of  meekness  ;  that,  by  your  deportment,  you  convince 
your  young  friends  that  you  are  influenced  by  feelings  of  love 
only  in  connection  with  deep  convictions  of  truth  ;  that  you 
avoid  every  thing  which  might  bear  the  aspect  of  dictation, 
or  of  assumed  superiority ;  and  above  all,  that  you  give  them 
a  large  share  of  your  intercessory  supplications  in  the  closet, 
and  in  those  social  prayers  which  I  rejoice  to  hear  a  few  of 
you  daily  have  in  your  chambers. 

"Be  of  good  courage,  my  dear  friend  :  I  pray  God  that 
your  faith  fail  not ;  and  if  it  be  the  product  of  God's  Holy 
Spirit,  I  know  it  will  not.  His  providential  dealings  with 
you  will  be  as  propitious  to  your  success  in  the  work  which 
he  has  for  you  to  do,  as  his  grace  has  been  in  calling  you  to 
enter  upon  it.  Make  the  promises  of  his  word  your  constant 
dependence,  and  believing  prayer  will  not  fail  to  supply 
you  with  contmual  evidences  of  the  truth  and  faithfulness 
of  God. 

"  In  our  conversation,  you  intimated,  I  think,  a  prefer- 
ence, of  which  I  approve,  for  the  completion  of  your  theo- 
logical course,  by  remaining  another  year  in  the  seminary ; 


23G  MEMOIE,  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

but  intimated  that  circumstances,  which  you  did  not  explain, 
might  render  it  impracticable  for  you  to  do  so.  I  believe  I 
am  not  a  stranger  to  those  circumstances ;  and  trust  that  I 
shall  not  offend  you  by  the  intimation,  that,  if  they  be  such 
as  I  suppose,  they  will  be  remedied  in  a  way  that  shall  not 
be  offensive  to  your  feelings.  To  be  quite  plain  on  the  sub- 
ject, whatever  reasonable  addition  to  your  present  pecuniary 
resources  may  be  necessary  to  your  contirmance  in  the  semi- 
nary, will  be  made  by  the  agency  of 

"  Your  faithful  and  affectionate  brother  in  Christ, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

The  generous  offer  with  which  this  letter  closes,  it  did 
not  become  necessary  to  accept.  The  student  addressed 
received  an  unexpected  appointment  to  a  tutorship  in  col- 
lege, and  therefore  did  not  return  for  his  closing  term  of 
study  in  the  seminary.  The  following  letter  was  addressed 
to  him  about  the  time  of  his  entrance  on  his  new  duties. 

"New  York,  September  17,  1S25. 
**  Dear  Sir — I  have  been  gratified  by  the  receipt  of  your 
favor  of  the  12th  inst.,  to  which  it  would  have  been  con- 
venient, on  some  accounts,  to  have  delayed  a  little  my  an- 
swer. But  you  mention  a  circumstance,  in  which  I  presume 
it  may  be  in  my  power  to  render  you  a  small  service  ;  and 
that  is  my  motive  for  writing  so  soon.  The  books  which 
have  a  relation  to  the  department  assigned  you  in  the  col- 
lege, you  must,  as  soon  as  possible,  be  supplied  with ;  and 
you  must  allow  me  to  assist  you  in  their  purchase,  and  to 
make  the  necessary  advances  in  your  belialf.  Let  me,  there- 
fore, be  forthwith  furnished  with  a  list,  and  every  exertion 
shall  be  made  to  obtain  the  best  editions  with  as  little  delay 
as  possible  ;  and  if  besides  this  there  be  any  other  particular, 
in  which  it  may  be  in  my  power  tp  assist  you,  I  pray  you 
not  to  be  reserved  in  your  communications,  but  frankly  tell 
me  how  I  can  oblige  one  to  whom  I  rejoice  in  bearing  the 
relation  of  a  brother. 


HIS  MINISTRY.  237 

"  oil,  how  SM^eet  and  endearing  that  tie  which  unites 
fellow-Christians  in  the  bonds  of  the  gospel !  Among  the 
other  evidences  of  our  being  real  disciples  of  Christ,  how 
delightful  that  of  our  loving  one  another.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  gratifying  circumstances  of  my  earthly  pilgrimage,  to 
live  in  affection  for  my  spiritual  kindred  in  Christ,  and  to 
believe  that  I  also  live  in  their  love  for  me  ;  and  that  we 
mutually  bear  each  other  in  our  thoughts,  when  approach- 
ing the  throne  of  grace  in  the  grateful  duty  of  mtercessory 
supplication. 

"  While  I  heartily  congratulate  you,  my  beloved  brother, 
on  your  accession  to  a  situation  which,  while  you  occupy  it, 
may,  with  God's  blessing,  enable  you  to  prepare  for  a  differ- 
ent and  more  extensive  field  of  usefulness,  I  sympathize  with 
j^ou  in  your  anticipation  of  some  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
spiritual  improvement,  with  which  it  will  certainly  be  at- 
tended. It  is  good,  however,  to  foresee  evil,  because  it  will 
excite  to  watchfulness,  and  set  invention  to  work  in  the  con- 
trivance of  the  best  means  for  averting  the  eflects  of  expo- 
sure to  that  most  awful  of  calamities  to  a  renewed  Chris- 
tian, spiritual  declension.  Set  out,  my  friend,  with  the 
resolute  determination,  that,  by  the  help  of  divine  grace,  you 
will  daily  redeem  sufficient  time  from  your  secular  studies 
and  employments  to  attend  to  '  the  one  thing  needful ;'  and 
often  revolve  in  your  mind  the  solemn  inquiry  suggested  by 
Him  who  died  for  our  redemption,  *  What  shall  it  profit  a 
man,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?' 
There  is  no  such  help  to  our  growth  in  grace  as  frequent 
retirement  to  the  closet,  there  to  investigate,  with  no  eye 
upon  us  but  that  of  the  Omniscient,  our  true  character  and 
condition ;  to  look  back  impartially  on  our  outward  walk ; 
to  dive  into  the  secret  springs  and  motives  of  our  actions ; 
and,  with  fervency,  to  pray  to  the  Author  of  all  our  mercies 
for  those  which  we  especially  need.  It  is  good,  too,  in  our 
seasons  of  devotional  retirement,  to  open  our  Bible,  not  for 
criticism — let  that  employ  some  other  moments  than  those 


238  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

of  secret  communion  with  God — ^but  to  warm  our  hearts, 
and  elevate  our  desires,  and  strengthen  our  resolution,  and 
increase  the  ardor  of  our  love. 

"  In  reference  to  your  time  of  life,  and  your  recent  expe- 
rience of  the  goodness  of  God,  allow  me  to  suggest  to  you  a 
thing,  which  I  have  made  multiplied  duties  and  cares  an 
apology  in  my  own  case  for  too  much  neglecting — the  keep- 
ing of  a  religious  diary.  It  will  be  a  wholesome  as  well  as 
pleasing  exercise  ;  and  it  will  be  hereafter  cheering  and  en- 
couraging to  look  back  upon  all  the  way  in  which  God  has 
led  you  ;  to  see  the  dangers  from  which  he  has  delivered  you  ; 
and  to  be  able,  from  past  evidences  of  divine  benignity  and 
power,  to  maintain  the  persuasion,  that  you  will  be  '  kept 
by  his  power  through  faith  unto  salvation.' 

"But  pleasing  as  it  is  to  me  thus  to  converse  with  one 
in  whose  present  happiness  and  future  usefulness  I  think  I 
feel  a  most  affectionate  interest,  I  am  so  near  the  limits  of 
my  paper,  that  I  must  defer  to  future  occasions  much  of 
what  my  feelings  of  attachment  would  lead  me  to  add. 

"  On  your  part,  my  dear  friend,  you  need  not  hesitate  to 
communicate  with  the  greatest  freedom  to  him  who  rejoices 
to  have  a  place  in  your  affections,  and  to  subscribe  himself, 
"  Your  faithful  brother  in  the  Lord, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

To   the  same   Student. 

"New  York,  October  15,  1825. 
"My  dear  Friend — Before  this  reaches  you,  you  will 
probably  have  heard  of  the  return  of  Bishop  Hobart  from 
Europe.  The  clergy  attended  him  yesterday  at  St.  John's, 
to  return  thanks  for  the  goodness  of  Almighty  God  in  restor- 
ing him  to  his  diocese  and  family.  I  never  saw  him  when 
he  looked  better,  thougli  he  says  he  is  still  subject  to  attacks 
of  dyspepsia.  He  made  a  very  feeling  address  to  us  in  the 
vestry-room ;  in  which  he  declared  t*hat  he  came  home  with 
the  liveliest  feelings  of  affection  towards  all  his  brethren , 
that  he  was  sensible  of  his  infirmities,  and  besought  for  them 


HIS  MINISTRY.  239 

the  indulgence  of  his  friends  ;  that  he  would  at  all  times  be 
ready  to  receive  counsel  from  them  ;  and  that,  whatever 
might  have  been,  or  might  still  be,  his  errors,  he  trusted 
those  who  most  difiered  from,  him  would  not  impute  to  him 
other  than  pure  and  disinterested  motives.  Nothing  could 
be  more  conciliatory  or  affectionate  than  his  demeanor 
towards  myself;  nor  could  congratulations  be  warmer  than 
those  which  he  expressed  on  my  merciful  preservation  last 
winter.  I  am  to  dine  with  him  on  Monday  next,  and  he 
with  me  on  the  following  Thursday. 

"  I  mention  these  things  as  a  source  of  gratification, 
because  indicative  of  an  enlargement  of  views  on  the  part  of 
Bishop  Hobart,  which  he  has  acquired  by  his  general  inter- 
course during  the  last  two  years,  and  which,  if  maintained, 
will  greatly  contribute  to  his  own  peace  of  mind  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  Church.  I  have  ever  entertained  a  warm 
personal  friendship  for  the  bishop,  with  whom  I  have  been 
intimate  for  at  least  five  and  thirty  years  ;  but  I  have  ever 
regretted  his  intolerant  views,  and  determined,  at  all  haz- 
ards, to  maintain  my  own  convictions  upon  religion  and 
church  politics,  until  convinced  of  their  error.  I  do  trust  in 
God,  he  will  see  the  necessity  of  allowing  to  others  a  liberty 
which  he  so  largely  claims  for  himself;  and  then,  with  a 
very  considerable  diversity  of  opinion,  harmony  and  Chris- 
tian love  may  be  maintained.  I  am  persuaded  that  firmness, 
united  with  moderation  and  meekness,  on  the  part  of  those 
who  wish  to  see  our  church  not  only  advancing  in  outward 
prosperity,  but  growing  in  evangelical  purity  and  attachment 
to  the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  Christianity,  will,  in  the 
end,  be  blessed  of  God  ;  and  that,  when  our  opponents  shall 
be  convinced  that  we  have  no  personal  objects  in  view,  and 
are  under  the  influence  neither  of  fanaticism  nor  of  party 
spirit,  they  will  feel  more  charitably  disposed  towards  us, 
and  approximate  more  nearly  that  course  of  sentiment  and 
of  action  which  the  providence  of  God  is  now  so  manifestly 
forwarding  v/ithin  the  limits  of  our  church. 


210  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

"  God  bless  you,  my  beloved  brother.     Every  letter  you 

write  me  gives  you  a  deeper  seat  in  the  affections  of  your 

faitliful 

'•JAMES  MILNOR,." 

The  next  letter  was  mainly  in  reply  to  one  in  which  its 
writer  had  stated  some  difficulties  on  the  subject  of  inter- 
course with  the  world  ;  and  it  shows  how  thorough,  on  this 
point,  had  become  the  change  in  Dr.  Milnor's  views,  in  pass- 
ing from  his  natural  to  his  religious  life. 

To  the  same. 

"New  York,  Nov.  29,  1825. 

"  My  dear  Friend — I  thank  you  for  addressing  me  by 
a  title  to  which  I  hope  you  will  always  allow  me  to  main- 
tain a  claim.  And  I  pray  God,  that  when  we  are  both 
removed  from  our  terrestrial  conflicts,  the  friendship  now 
begun  may  be  continued  with  more  purity  and  fervor  in  that 
better  state  to  which,  I  trust,  we  are  looking  forward  with 
delight.  If  there  be  one  thought  which,  more  than  others, 
fills  my  mind  with  sweet  anticipations  in  hours  of  retired 
ijieditation,  it  is  that  of  the  renewal  of  those  cherished  inti- 
macies which  a  common  love  of  our  dear  Redeemer  has  led 
me  to  form  with  kindred  minds  on  earth,  and  which,  I  verily 
believe,  will  be  cemented  and  made  eternal  in  the  paradise 
of  God.  Let  us  deport  ourselves  so  as  to  insure  that  bless- 
edness, and  find  an  alleviation  of  all  the  difficulties  and  trials 
of  life  m  the  delightful  prospect  of  the  peaceful  enjoyments 
of  the  heavenly  state. 

"  The  steady  contemplation  of  tliat  state  will,  I  think, 
remove  every  embarrassment  in  regard  to  the  extent  in  which 
we  should  mingle  in  the  pleasures  of  this.  I  am  free  to  say 
to  you,  my  dear  brother,  tliat  I  feel  every  day  growing  ap- 
prehensions of  worldly  conformity,  and  that  I  find  my  peace 
of  mind  requiring  an  unequivocal  renunciation  of  amuse- 
ments such  as  you  have  mentioned.  Since  I  consecrated 
myself  to  God,  it  has  been  no  cross  to  me  to  reject  them. 


HIS  MINISTTlY.  241 

When  I  acquired  a  taste  for  religious  enjoyments,  I  lost,  in 
a  good  degree,  my  relish  for  such  trifling.  But  the  censure 
of  the  world  it  was,  for  a  time,  unpleasant  to  encounter; 
until  I  found — as  I  believe,  by  a  mild  but  firm  perseverance 
in  duty,  you  also  will  find — that  it  is  better,  if  need  be,  to 
incur  the  world's  displeasure,  than  that  of  God ;  and  that, 
in  truth,  he  is  pleased  so  to  regard  his  faithful  servants  as  to 
constram  even  that  world  secretly  to  admire  what  it  afTects 
to  disapprove.  I  never  yet  knew  a  minister,  whom  a  con- 
duct inconsistent  with  his  profession  did  not  bring  into  con- 
tempt, not  merely  with  the  pious,  but  even  with  the  ungodly 
themselves  ;  nor  one,  whom  unaflected,  earnest  piety  has 
ever  permanently  injured.  Let  the  manner  of  rejecting  or 
evading  the  calls  of  fashionable  pleasure  be  discreet  and  tem- 
perate, and  the  general  tenor  of  conduct  show  the  hallowed 
motives  by  which  abstinence  from  the  gayeties  of  life  is  in- 
duced, and  you  will  find,  as  I  have  done,  that  you  will  be 
left  to  pursue  your  course  with  no  more  of  censure  than,  as 
a  good  Christian,  for  Christ  and  conscience'  sake,  you  can, 
by  the  help  of  your  divine  Master,  very  easily  bear.  Nor 
dees  this  required  sacrifice  imply,  that  cheerfulness  is  in  itself 
sinful,  or  that  our  dispositions  are  to  become  sour  and  mo- 
rose, or  that  intercourse  with  those  who  live  not  by  our  rule, 
is  to  be  entirely  withheld.  But  I  would  say,  that  it  should 
not  be  more  frequent  than  circumstances  render  necessary  ; 
that,  when  allowed,  it  should  not  be  long  continued ;  that, 
if  practicable,  it  should  always  be  improved  to  some  religious 
end  ;  and  that,  on  no  account,  should  the  world  be  permitted 
to  entrap  us  into  scenes  where  we  can  receive  no  benefit, 
but  must  return  to  our  closets  with  mmds  unfitted  for  com- 
munion with  God,  less  inclined  to  all  our  spiritual  duties^ 
and  harassed  with  intimations  from  the  inward  monitor  of 
vows  forgotten,  character  lowered,  and  usefulness  impaired, 
and  with  the  apprehension  not  only  of  having  wounded  the 
feelings  of  the  pious,  but  also  of  being  sneered  at  and  de- 
spised by  the  very  persons  who  have  delighted  to  find  us, 

Mem.  Milnor.  1  1 


242  ilEMOlR  OF  DR.  MILKOR. 

with  all  our  professions,  so  much  like  themselves.  There  is 
a  clergyman,  not  many  days'  ride  from  your  present  residence, 
whom  I  have  heard  mentioned  by  the  very  persons  whose 
worldly  pleasures  he  habitualij  shares,  in  terms  corrobora- 
tive of  what  I  have  said  as  to  the  estimate  wliich  such  peo- 
ple form  of  Christians,  especially  ministers,  who  thus  dese 
crate  their  characters  and  destroy  their  usefulness.  I  know 
many  similar  instances.  But  I  never  knew  a  real  man  of 
God,  who  did  not  ultimately,  by  forbearance  and  moderation 
in  the  article  of  pleasurable  intercourse,  where  he  united 
with  them  suavity  and  kindness  of  feeling  and  demeanor 
towards  all  men,  command  the  respect  and  esteem  of  all 
whose  opinions  were  worthy  of  regard.  A  bishop  of  our 
church  once  said  to  me  on  this  subject,  '  Let  a  minister  of 
God  begin  his  course  by  marking  out  for  himself  a  strict  line 
of  conduct,  and  then  take  care  to  keep  a  great  way  within 
it.'  '  The  tongue  of  the  wise  is  health  :'  '  A  word  spoken 
in  due  season,  how  good  it  is  !'  But  I  am  fatiguing  you  with 
remarks  which,  I  trust,  your  own  feelings  have  anticipated, 
and  at  present  will  say  no  more  on  the  subject. 

"  On  the  proceedings  at  our  late  Convention,  I  wish  to 
say  but  little.  My  conscience  acquits  me  of  any  ill  design ; 
and  as  I  wish,  in  no  unnecessary  way,  to  incur  censure,  I  am 
glad,  in  this  matter,  to  have  been  involved  in  none,  on  the 
part  of  either  the  bishop  or  his  friends.  By  the  latter,  if  I 
desired  the  praise  of  men,  I  was  abundantly  complimented. 
The  former  remarked  to  me,  after  the  rising  of  the  Conven- 
tion, *  You  behaved  towards  me  personally,  in  that  instance, 
as  you  have  always  done,  like  a  gentleman  and  a  Christian.' 
I  would  not  mention  this  but  to  allay  any  fears  which  per- 
sons of  our  acquaintance  might  excite  in  your  mmd,  lest 
some  new  offence  had  arisen  between  the  bishop  and  myself 
He  is  more  cordial  than  I  ever  knew  liim ;  and  as  I  have 
not  a  tittle  of  animosity  against  him,  so  long  as  I  am  allowed 
to  pursue  the  ministerial  and  religious  course  wliich  I  believe 
duty  requires,  I  will  endeavor  not  to  make  his  cordiality  less. 


HIS  MINISTRY.  243 

But  I  will  never  sacrifice  principle  for  tlie  sake  of  retaining 
any  man's  regards.  That  I  very  partially  concur  in  tlie 
cliurcli  politics  of  this  diocese,  I  am  obliged  to  avoAV.  But 
as  I  cannot  alter  a  course  of  which  I  am  obliged  to  disap- 
prove, I  am  content  to  be  put  out  of  the  question  in  every 
thing  but  what  relates  to  my  immediate  duties.  With  these, 
I  will  allow  no  man,  except  in  the  way  of  counsel,  to  inter- 
fere. While  I  walk  according  to  the  law  of  God  and  the 
written  rules  of  the  church,  and  continue  to  discharge  my 
duties  in  the  fear  of  God,  I  feel  no  inward  disquietude,  noi 
any  apprehensions  of  what  man  can  do  unto  me.  And  all 
this  I  hope  to  find  consistent  with  the  avoidance  of  schism, 
and  of  any  improper  disrespect  towards  those  who  are  set 
over  us  in  the  Lord. 

"  I  have  many  more  things  to  say  to  you  ;  but  though 
you  see  how  I  have  husbanded  my  paper,  yet  it  is  run  out. 
I  have  still  room,  however,  to  invoke  on  you  and  your  pur- 
suits the  blessing  of  God,  and  to  reiterate  that  I  am 
*'  Your  faithful  and  afiectionate  brother, 

"JAMES  MILNOH." 

In  order  to  understand  the  allusion  to  Bishop  Hobart  and 
the  Convention,  towards  the  close  of  tliis  letter,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  give  a  short  explanation.  Soon  after  the  bishop's 
return  from  Europe,  and  upon  the  assembling  of  the  Annual 
Convention  of  his  diocese,  it  was  deemed  higlily  proper  to 
pass  resolutions  expressive  of  the  feelings  of  the  clergy  and 
laity  upon  again  receiving  their  diocesan  in  health  and  safety  ; 
and  responsive  to  the  affectionate,  unbosoming  salutations, 
with  which  he  had  just  greeted  them  in  his  annual  address. 
In  doing  this,  a  strong  desire  was  felt  to  frame  the  resolutions 
in  such  language  as  should  insure  their  unanimous  adoption ; 
and  as  there  were  known  points  in  the  bishop's  course  of 
church  policy  which  could  not  be  unanimously  approved,  it 
was  determined,  in  reference  to  those  points,  to  avoid  any 
expression  of  opinion,  and  to  construct  one  of  the  resolutions 
in  the  shape  of  a  simple  pledge  of  devoted,  personal  confi- 


244  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MIL^^OR. 

dence,  friendsliiii,  and  afTectiou.  Accordingly,  the  "bishop 
having  temporarily  retired  from  the  Convention,  the  com- 
mittee to  whom  the  subject  M'as  referred,  introduced  a  series 
of  resolutions,  which  were  received  with  unanimous  appro- 
bation. But  on  presenting  them  to  the  bishop,  he  expressed 
his  decided  dissatisfaction  with  that  which  referred  personally 
to  himself;  and  declared,  that  if  the  resolution  were  to  stop 
short  of  an  approval  of  his  whole  episcopal  course,  he  nmst 
decline  receiving  it.  This  unexpected  stand  threw  on  the 
majority  of  the  Convention  the  necessity  of  either  abandon- 
ing their  complimentary  measure,  or  withdrawing  the  un- 
satisfactory resolution  for  a  substitute  framed  in  accordance 
with  the  bishop's  wishes.  Of  course,  the  latter  part  of  the 
unpleasant  alternative  was  adopted  ;  and  a  resolution,  ex- 
pressing the  confidence  of  the  Convention  in  "  the  soundness 
of  his  policy,"  was  introduced,  in  company  with  those  which 
greeted  his  late  return  and  responded  to  his  pathetic  address. 
This  movement  raised  a  debate  on  the  passage  of  the  reso- 
lutions ;  and  this  debate  brought  Dr.  Milnor  upon  the  floor 
in  a  speech,  which,  for  ability  and  Christian  courtesy,  pre- 
sented him  in  a  most  attractive  light  as  an  accomplished 
debater  and  as  a  Christian  gentleman,  and  raised  him  high 
in  the  esteem  even  of  those  who  most  diflered  from  him  in 
his  views  of  church  polity.  AYliile  he  did  full  justice  to  the 
personal  and  Christian  excellence  of  his  bishop,  and  to  the 
known  friendship  subsisting  between  them,  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate freely  and  frankly  to  avow  his  dissent  from  some  of  the 
opinions  of  his  diocesan,  and  openly  and  manfully  to  vindi- 
cate his  own  resistance  to  measures  calculated  to  bring  odi- 
um upon  him  for  the  exercise  of  what  he  felt  to  be  his  Chris- 
tian liberty.  The  scene  which  this  debate  presented,  has 
long  since  faded  from  general  remembrance ;  but  it  was 
thrilling,  and  constituted  a  beautiful'  triumph  to  one  who, 
although  he  moved  in  a  little  minority,  was  yet  able  to  com- 
mand admiring  approbation  from  an  overwhelming  ma- 
jority. 


HIS  MINISTHY.  245 

The  letters  which  date  next  m  order,  are  part  of  a  cor- 
respondence with  the  Rev.  0.  P.  Mcllvaine,  then  proles- 
sor  at  West  Point.  His  labors  as  chaplain  of  the  Mihtaiy 
Academy  had  already  been  largely  blessed ;  and  before  the 
summer  of  1826  the  academy  was  agitated  with  the  move- 
ments of  that  great  awakening,  from  the  fruits  of  which  our 
church  has  selected  several  of  her  bishops  and  other  clei-gj. 
About  the  first  of  June,  Dr.  Milnor  was  uiduced  to  visit  West 
Point,  for  the  purpose  of  spending  a  Sunday  with  his  friend, 
and  assisting  him  in  the  arduous  labors  to  which  he  was 
then  specially  called.  It  was  about  the  same  time,  that  the 
correspondence,  of  which  a  portion  has  been  preserved,  was 
opened.  The  first  of  the  series  from  Dr.  Mihior  is  wanting. 
The  second  is  as  follows  : 

To  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Mcllvain^. 

"New  York,  June  8,  1826. 
"My  dear  Brother — My  mind  dwells  with  inexpressi- 
ble delight  on  the  transactions  of  the  last  Sabbath.  Espe- 
cially when  I  reflect  on  our  evening  interview  with  those 
dear  youth  who  had  given  themselves  to  the  Lord,  and  with 
their  anxious  companions,  I  cannot  be  sufficiently  thankful 
that,  in  the  kind  providence  of  God.  I  was  permitted  to  wit- 
ness such  a  scene.  The  Lord  God  Almighty  be  with  you, 
direct  you  to  the  best  means  of  prosecuting  a  work  so  mani- 
festly the  product  of  his  Spirit,  and  be  your  '  refuge  and 
strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble,'  should  persecution 
assail  you  on  account  of  the  unexpected  reward  bestowed 
on  your  labors  in  his  service.  In  the  fulness  of  my  grati- 
tude to  God,  of  my  love  to  you,  and  of  the  deep  interest 
which  I  feel  in  the  increase  of  this  wonderful  instance  of  the 
Spirit's  power  on  the  heart,  I  have  hesitated  whether  I 
should  say  a  word  to  you  that  might  operate  as  a  discour- 
agement. Perhaps  some  things  in  my  former  letter  are 
calculated  to  have  that  efiect,  and  what  I  am  about  to  add 
may  increase  it ;  but,  on  the  whole,  I  think  it  best  to  ac- 


246  MEMOIE.  OF  DE.  MILNOH. 

quaint  you  with  any  thing  coming  to  my  ear  that  may  have 
a  bearing  on  the  subject ;  trusting  that  it  may  be  the  means 
of  preparing  you  for  those  difficulties  which  some  are  plot- 
ting to  throw  in  your  way,  and  of  enabling  you,  by  prayer- 
ful meditation,  to  determine  on  the  best  method  either  of 
evading  or  of  removing  those  difficulties.  The  enemies  of 
truth  are  busy  in  spreading  liere  the  grossest  misrepresenta- 
tions of  the  character  of  the  revival,  of  your  manner  of  con- 
ducting it,  and  of  its  *  unhappy'  effects  on  its  subjects.  From 
various  quarters,  since  my  return,  I  have  heard  it  declared 
to  be  a  mere  burst  of  enthusiasm,  a  sudden  excitement  of 
the  animal  passions  of  the  young  men,  produced  by  your 
eloquence  :  as  having  led  to  actual  insanity  in  one,  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  comforting  prognostications  of  these  sagacious 
opponents,  being  likely  to  have  the  same  eflect  on  many 
others ;  and  as  having  disgusted  the  officers,  and  so  alien- 
ated them  from  you  as  to  make  them  forsake  public  worship 
on  Sundays  :  in  short,  it  has  been  said  that  measures  would 
be  taken  either  to  stop  these  disorderly  proceedings,  or  to 
effect  your  removal. 

"  Yesterday  I  met  a  gentleman  in  Broadway,  who  wears 
the  title  of  major  in  our  militia,  which,  of  course,  makes 
him,  in  his  own  opinion,  a  competent  judge  of  all  matters 
connected  with  military  life.  He  began  his  remarks  by  say- 
ing he  had  been  disappointed  in  his  hope  of  hearing  me 
last  Sunday ;  but  understood  that  I  was  at  West  Point. 
He  then  made  some  complimentary  remarks  on  your  talents 
as  a  preacher ;  but  soon  followed  them  by  an  expression  of 
his  deep  regret  at  your  fanatical  proceedings.  '  You  were,' 
he  said,  '  turning  a  military  academy  into  a  theological  semi- 
nary, and  aiming  to  make  young  men  soldiers  in  the  Church 
militant' — he  meant  ministers — *  whom  the  government  in- 
tended to  train  for  its  army  ;  he  understood  that  you  met 
them  for  prayer  every  morning  at  daylight,  and  encouraged 
them  to  neglect  other  studies  for  that  of  religion  ;  that  the 
most  serious  apprehensions  were  entertained  of  the  conse- 


HIS  Ivil^sISlT.Y.  247 

queiit  degradation,  if  not  ruin  of  the  institution  ;  and  tliat 
the  subject  would  be  brought  before  the  board  of  visitors, 
with  a  view  to  an  expression  of  a  disapprobatory  kind  to  the 
Secretary  of  War.'  Some  of  his  representations  I  contradict- 
ed, others  I  explained ;  and  left  him  with  a  declaration  of 
my  belief  that  no  investigation  Avould  result  to  your  preju- 
dice in  the  estimation  of  the  wise  and  good  ;  and  that  every 
subject  of  God's  grace  at  West  Point  would,  by  his  deport- 
ment, prove  himself  faithful  to  every  duty  incumbent  on  him 
as  a  member  of  the  academy,  without  abandoning  his  enlist- 
ment under  the  banner  of  the  Captain  of  liis  salvation. 

"  Now,  my  endeared  brother,  let  not  these  thmgs  alarm 
you.  It  is  right  that  you  should  know  the  machinations 
of  the  enemies  of  truth,  that  you  may  be  prepared  to  meet 
them  ;  but  to  you,  and  the  precious  seals  of  your  ministry,  I 
would  say,  *  Be  not  afraid  of  their  terror,  neither  be  troubled  ; 
but  sanctify  the  Lord  God  in  your  hearts ;  and  be  ready 
always  to  give  an  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh  you  a 
reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in  you,  with  meekness  and  fear  : 
having  a  good  conscience,  that  whereas  they  speak  evil  of  you 
as  of  evil-doers,  they  may  be  ashamed  that  falsely  accuse  your 
good  conversation  in  Christ ;'  and  then,  '  if  the  will  of  God 
be  so,  it  is  better  that  you  suffer  for  well-doing  than  for  evil- 
doing.'  Yet  it  must  be  admitted,  that  your  situation  is  in- 
expressibly trying,  and  that  you  have  much  need  of  prayer, 
and  patience,  and  self-denial,  and  forbearance  towards  op- 
posers.  May  God  give  you  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent,  and  the 
harmlessness  of  the  dove,  and  overrule  all  for  his  own  glory. 
"  Your  affectionate, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

After  an  answer  to  this  letter,  he  wrote  again. 

To  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Mcllvaine. 

"New  York,  June  14,  1826. 
"  My  vee-y  dear  Brother — You  have  rightly  understood 
every  intimation  which  I  have  ventured,  on  the  subject  of 


248  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

prudence  and  discretion  in  conducting  what  belongs  to  hu- 
man agency  in  the  Avork  of  grace  at  West  Point.  1  would 
do  nothing  from  mere  motives  of  regard  to  self,  nothing  from 
the  fear  of  man ;  but  I  would,  so  far  as  may  be  consistent 
with  the  paramount  duty  which  you  owe  to  God  and  the 
souls  of  men,  avoid  all  that  would  furnish  a  ground  of  objec- 
tion to  the  world,  with  whose  opposition  you  will  be  sure 
to  see  associated  that  of  nominal,  lukewarm,  unevangelical 
professors.  I  would  put  no  weapon  in  the  hands  of  enemies, 
nor  furnish  them  with  even  a  pretence  for  objection.  Espe- 
cially would  1  have  our  dear  young  brethren  confute,  by 
practical  arguments  of  the  most  conclusive  kind,  that  which 
I  now  hear  from  many  quarters,  of  the  deleterious  effects  of 
this  revival  on  the  immediate  duties  of  the  students — its 
interference  with  the  proper  objects  of  the  institution  at 
"West  Point.  I  feel  a  most  intense  interest  in  the  uninter- 
rupted progress  and  propitious  result  of  this  work  of  God, 
and  every  day  wish  to  know  whether  more  are  added  to  ths 
awakened,  whether  the  inquiring  are  advancinjr  to  the  con- 
summation of  their  desires,  and  whether  the  dear  brethren 
who  have  assumed  Christ's  yoke  bear  it  as  they  ought,  and 
enjoy  the  sweet  comforts  of  their  calling. 

'*  When  does  your  examination  close  ?  How  will  mat- 
ters stand  next  Sunday  week  ?  That  is  the  day  of  our  next 
communion,  and  if  all  thingS  suited,  the  company  of  as  many 
of  our  young  disciples  as  could  come  would  be  gratifying. 
I  dare  not  say  a  word  of  the  delight  which  it  would  give 
me  to  have  him  present  who,  under  God,  has  been  made 
an  instrument  of  good  to  their  souls,  because  such  an  event 
is  not,  I  presume,  within  the  compass  of  probability. 

"  Last  Sunday,  hot  as  it  was,  I  preached  three  times, 
besides  preaching  the  previous  evening.  I  am  looking  as 
anxiously  for  the  descent  of  the  dews  of  divine  grace  on  my 
thirsty  spiritual  viiu^yard,  as  the  husbandman  is  now  desiring 
that  of  the  rain  upon  liis  parched  fields.  The  Lord  gratiiy 
the  expectations  and  desires  of  both.     On  Sunday  night  a 


HIS   MINISTE,Y.  249 

crowd  of  believers  joined  me  in  supplications  which,  I  hope, 
reached  the  mercy-seat,  for  a  rich  blessing  on  you,  and  all 
interested  in  your  present  trying  labors.  Give  my  warmest 
Christian  salutations  to  the  dear  cadets,  to  Mrs.  McTlvaine, 
to  your  amiable  sisters,  and  to  all  whom  we  salute  as  breth- 
ren hi  Christ,  and  accept  for  yourself  the  assurance  of  my 
undiminished  affection, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

To  the  Eev.  C.  P.  Mcllvaine. 

"New  York,  June  17,  182C. 

"My  dear  Brother — Your  letter  of  the  15th,  just  re- 
ceived, has  relieved  my  mind  of  some  distressing  apprehen- 
sions in  regard  to  the  character  and  influence  of  the  opposi- 
tion which  I  found  was  rising  to  the  work  of  divine  grace  at 
West  Point.  I  pray  God  that  the  only  retribution  awarded 
the  enemies  of  truth,  may  be  the  conquest  of  their  own  hearts, 
and  their  introduction  into  the  ranks  of  the  soldiers  of  the 
Cross.  Tell  our  dear  young  friends,  each  of  them,  to  make, 
in  his  private  devotions,  every  inveterate  opponent  the  sub- 
ject of  special  prayer  ;  to  forgive  from  the  heart  every  inju- 
rious expression  which  that  opponent  may  have  used,  and 
to  manifest,  in  necessaiy  intercourse  with  them  all,  feelings 
not  of  resentment,  but  of  love. 

"  I  think  the  course  which  you  have  resolved  to  pursue 
in  regard  to  the  Wednesday  evening  meeting  a  very  proper 
one,  and  have  no  doubt  your  much-respected  superintendent 
will  find  in  the  written  assurance  of  the  cadets  a  solid  pledge 
of  the  most  dutiful  and  exemplary  behavior  on  their  part. 
What  can  even  unbelievers  object  to  the  operation  of  inward 
religion  on  the  minds  of  these  young  men,  when  its  practical 
effects  are  seen,  not  in  the  deterioration,  but  in  the  improve- 
ment of  their  character  as  members  of  your  very  excellent 
and  useful  institution  ?  To  the  mind  of  your  colonel,  hap- 
pily not  given  over  to  the  delusions  in  which  some  others 
are  enveloped,  it  will  give  a  confidence  in  the  maintenance 
11* 


250  MEMOm  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

of  his  present  course,  which  I  am  sure  all  your  personal 
agency  in  the  aflair  will  strengthen  and  confirm. 

"  I  thank  you  for  the  explanation  of  that  ominous  'amen;'' 
and  hope  that  every  Christian  cadet,  whatever  prudence 
may  direct  in  regard  to  the  utterance  of  the  Z^/?s,  will  al- 
ways be  ready,  with  the  feelings  of  his  inmost  soul,  to  make 
this  response  to  such  a  desire  as  that  which  you  expressed 
at  the  conclusion  of  your  sermon  in  behalf  of  the  beloved 
youth  whom  you  had  baptized  into  the  name  of  Christ,  and 
the  open  profession  of  his  gospel. 

"  I  have  just  finished  a  discourse  for  to-morrow  morning, 
from  Rom.  15  :  13  :  "Now  the  God  of  hope  fill  you  with 
all  joy  and  pecae  in  beHeving,  that  ye  may  abound  in  hope, 
through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.'  The  object  of  the 
discourse,  as  you  may  suppose,  is  to  explain,  and  as  ex- 
plained, to  defend  the  doctrine  of  assurance.  '  The  God  of 
hope '  be  praised,  that  some  of  our  dear  young  brethren  have 
experimentally  realized  its  truth  by  the  witness  of  God's 
Spirit  with  theirs,  that  they  are  his  children.  The  Lord 
keep  them  by  his  power  through  faith  unto  salvation. 
Though  'it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  they  shall  be,'  yet 
may  every  day's  advance  in  the  divine  life  enable  them 
more  assuredly  to  *  know,  that  when  he  shall  appear,  they 
shall  be  like  him,  for  they  shall  see  him  as  he  is.' 

"  My  family  having  removed  to  Flushing*  last  Thursday, 
I  am  left  without  the  means  of  inviting  our  young  friends  to 
domicile  with  me  during  their  stay  in  New  York.  But  I 
shall  rejoice  in  giving  them  all  the  aid  I  can  in  facilitating 
their  acquaintance  with  our  religious  institutions,  and  hope 
they  will  attend  the  Tuesday  evening  prayer-meeting  of  the 
brethren  of  my  congregation.  It  will  particularly  delight 
me  to  find  you  their  fellow-traveller.     Tell  dear  little  Bled- 

*  For  several  years,  during  his  rectorship  of  St.  George's,  Dr.  Mil- 
nor  owned  a  farm  and  a  summer  residence  at  Flushing,  L.  I.;  but 
finding  considerable  inconvenience  in  the  arrangement,  it  was  subse- 
quently abandoned,  and  his  residence  confined  wholly  to  the  city. 


HIS  MINISTlir.  251 

soe,"  a  very  serious  young  cadet,  "  that  that  declaration  and 
promise,  '  I  love  them  that  love  me  ;  and  they  that  seek  me 
early  shall  find  me,'  are  assuredly  his,  if  he  persevere.  Sa- 
lute all  your  beloved  flock  with  the  truest  aflection.  God 
bless  them,  and  keep  them,  and  make  them  ministers  of 
good  to  all  Avith  whom,  in  his  gracious  providence,  they  may 
be  called  to  associate.  My  kindest  regards  await  Capt.  D. 
and  your  own  dear  family.  Let  me  continue  to  occupy  a 
corner  of  your  hear-t,  and  an  interest  in  your  prayers. 
"  Your  brother  in  the  best  of  bonds, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

Some  of  the  cadets,  with  Mr.  Mcllvaine  himself,  having 
paid  their  desired  visit  to  St.  George's,  and  to  the  religious 
institutions  of  the  city,  especially  the  newly  erected  Tract 
Society's  house,  whence  they  carried  back  large  supplies  of 
the  Society's  publications,  Dr.  Milnor,  after  their  return, 
writes  thus : 

To  the  Eev.  C.  P.  Mcllvaine. 

"New  York,  June  28,  1826. 
"My  deah  Brother — The  refreshing  intercourse  with 
which  we  were  lately  favored,  has  left  so  sweet  a  savor  in 
my  mind,  that  I  feel  as  if  I  wanted,  every  now  and,  then,  a 
few  minutes'  converse  with  you.  And  yet,  I  do  not  know 
that  you  require  a  word  of  encouragement  or  of  counsel  from 
one  so  incompetent  as  myself  to  offer  either ;  for  your  heart 
is  fixed  on  your  Master's  work :  you  are  as  fully  aware  as 
any  of  my  suggestions  can  make  you,  of  the  difficulties 
which  you  have  to  encounter ;  and  you  see  the  necessity  of 
uniting,  in  the  required  conflict  with  them,  the  wisdom  of 
the  serpent  with  the  harmlessness  of  the  dove.  Still,  I  feel 
an  anxiety,  greater  than  words  can  express,  in  regard  to  the 
progress  and  issue  of  this  manifest  visitation  of  the  Spirit  to 
the  dear  youth  at  West  Point.  I  wish  it  to  proceed  in  a 
way  which,  if  it  fail  to  convince  infidel  gainsayers,  will  les- 
sen the  apprehensions  of  its  running  into  enthusiasm,  which 


252  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

many  professors  who  have  inadequate  views  of  such  matters, 
are  begiuiiiug  to  express.  0  lor  that  wise,  discriminating 
spirit  which  may  enable  them  to  distinguish  between  the 
extraA'agances  sometimes  exhibited  in  revivals,  and  the 
deep,  silent  work  of  grace  now  in  progress  with  you.  I 
fear  that  the  accounts,  given  by  a  clergyman  of  our  church 

from ,  of  the  revival  in-that  place,  will  have  the  effect 

of  increasing  among  our  brethren  their  opposition  to  every 
thing  of  the  kind.  Allowing  for  some  exaggerations  in  the 
statements  of  this  clergyman,  there  are  many  circumstances, 
which  he  narrates  as  facts  positively  known  to  him,  which 
certainly  prove  a  great  want  of  sound  wisdom,  and  no  in- 
considerable religious  error,  on  the  part  of  the  leaders  in 
that  revival.  And  yet,  while  w^e  lament  these  aberrations, 
which,  1  doubt  not,  too  much  of  what  Bishop  Hobart  calls 
'  animal  excitement '  has  produced,  I  have  as  little  doubt 
that  signal  interpositions  of  divine  mercy  have  occurred ; 
and  that,  while  some  have  mistaken  the  workings  of  their 
own  unaginations  for  those  of  the  Spirit,  many  have  been 
truly  born  of  God,  and  will  look  back  to  this  revival  with 
rejoicing  through  eternity. 

"  I  have  hesitated,  but  upon  the  whole  think  it  best  to 
state  to  you,  that  I  have  conversed  with  one  of  the  visiting 
committee,*  who  has  left  "West  Point  with  strong  prejudices, 
which  I  hope  I  have  somewhat  diminished.  He  stjited  to 
me  that  a  veiy  general  impression  in  the  academic  staff  was, 
that  your  proceedings  were  fanatical,  had  a  tendency  to  in- 
terrupt attention  to  study,  and  made  it  indispensable  that 
there  should  be  some  interference ;  and  that  the  subject 
was  discussed  by  the  board  of  visitors,  and  an  attempt  made 
to  express  a  very  unfavorable  feeling  towards  you  and  your 
doings.  But  it  was  at  length  concluded  that  it  should  not 
be  done  in  their  official  document,  though  my  informant 
regretted  that  your  removal  would  probably  be  the  result 

*  A  committee  annually  sent  by  government  to  conduct  the  ex 
amination  of  the  cadets  in  their  studies  at  the  national  academy. 


HIS  MINISTUY.         --  253 

of  a  less  formal  exhibition  of  the  matter  to  the  war  depart- 
ment. 

"  What  he  expressed  as  a  matter  of  regret,  I  feel;  for  if 
your  removal  should  take  place,  though  I  am  sure  the  Lord 
would  give  you  the  ability  to  suffer  patiently  in  his  cause, 
yet  the  effect  would  be  disastrous  as  it  respects  West  Point, 
and  injurious  in  a  vast  variety  of  ways,  which  will  as  readily 
suggest  themselves  to  your  mind  as  they  have  to  my  own. 
One  thing,  my  very  dear  friend,  I  do  desire  you  to  bear  in 
memory,  and  that  is,  that  the  peculiar  circumstances  in 
which  you  are  placed  require  a  course  of  conduct  very  dif- 
ferent from  that  followed  in  ordinary  revivals,  and  that,  as 
far  as  duty  will  permit,  those  circumstances  should  be  con- 
stantly regarded. 

*•  We  are  full  here  of  ecclesiastical  builders,  busily  en- 
gaged in  the  construction  of  the  external  temple.  0  that 
every  heart  were  the  place  of  His  hallowed  residence,  for 
whom  that  temple  is  designed.  Christian  regards  to  all  our 
dear  brethren  in  the  Lord. 

"  Your  faithful  brother, 

''JAMES  MILNOR." 

Here  close  the  letters  touching  the  West  Point  revival. 
If  more  were  written — and  this  is  probable — they  have  not 
been  preserved.  Those  which  have  been  given  are  charac- 
teristic of  their  author,  full  of  love  and  zeal  for  his  Master's 
work,  and  equally  full  of  sanctified  wisdom  and  prudence  in 
guarding  that  work  from  danger.  His  fears  of  the  removal 
of  his  friend  from  his  professorship  were  not  realized.  The 
work  of  gi'ace  at  the  military  school  was  fruitful  in  blessed 
results ;  and  our  church  herself  has  reason  to  rejoice  in 
what  God  there  wrought  among  the  youth  of  our  national 
institute. 

We  have  next  another  letter  to  the  theological  student, 
by  this  time  in  orders.  By  a  committee  of  his  fellow-citi- 
zens of  different  religious  denominations,  he  had  been  invited 
to  deliver  a  Fourth  of  July  address  in  a  Presbyterian  meet- 


254  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

ing-lioiise,  at  a  religious  celebration  of  the  first  semi-centen- 
nial anniversary  of  our  national  independence  ;  and,  though 
opposed  by  his  clerical  brethren  in  the  college  and  neighbor- 
hood, yet,  on  account  of  the  superior  size  of  the  building,  he 
had  accepted  the  invitation.  It  is  to  his  conduct  on  this 
occasion  that  a  part  of  Dr.  Milnor's  letter  alludes. 


To  the  Rev. 


"New  Yohk,  July  13,  1826.  ' 
*'  My  dear  Friend  and  Brother — I  was  actually  mus- 
ing, with  feelings  of  painful  regret,  on  the  interruption  of  our 
correspondence,  when  your  very  welcome  letter  of  the  7th 
was  handed  me ;  and  my  feelings  were  probably  a  little 
more  excited  than  they  would  have  been,  by  having  just 
read,  perhaps  for  the  twentieth  time,  the  first  letter  which 
you  ever  wrote  me.  The  ingenuous  statement  which  that 
contained  of  an  experience  so  correspondent  with  the  course 
through  which  the  Lord  led  me  between  thirteen  and  four- 
teen years  ago,  has  always  deeply  affected  my  heart ;  and 
its  undoubted  sincerity  has  inspired  me  with  a  personal  af- 
fection for  you,  which  I  can  allow  no  trammels  of  ceremony 
to  prevent  my  expressing  in  a  manner  the  most  hearty  and 
unreserved.  And  I  cherish  the  grateful  sensations  with 
which  it  fills  my  bosom  the  more  ardently,  because  I  do  be- 
lieve that  aflection  to  be  reciprocal ;  while  I  long  to  see  you 
freed  from  the  shackles  which  I  know  hold  you  back  from 
the  formation  of  such  alliances,  and  from  the  direction  of 
your  talents  in  such  a  way,  as  your  love  for  Christ  and  his 
dear  people  would  render  gratifying  to  yourself  and  most  use- 
ful to  his  blood-bought  Church.  I  want  to  see  you  neither  a 
fanatic  nor  a  disorganizer ;  but  I  do  want  to  see  you  where 
you  can  give  free  scope  to  those  animated  conceptions  of 
your  high  and  holy  calling,  with  which,  I  trust,  the  Spirit 
of  our  divine  Master  has  filled  your  heart ;  and  where,  with 
every  required  attention  to  matters  of  form,  the  grand  pur- 
poses of  the  gospel  ministry  can  be  kept  steadily  in  view, 


HIS   xMI2sISIIlY.       „^..  255 

and  prosecuted  by  you  without  the  fear  of  man.  Your  con- 
duct on  the  Fourth  was  exactly  such  as  became  you,  and 
will  commend  itself  to  the  approbation  of  God  and  of  good 
men  as  it  does  to  your  own  conscience.  I  am  more  and 
more  persuaded,  that  while  we  should  not  forget  the  meek- 
ness which  becomes  us  as  the  followers  of  our  lowly  Sav- 
iour, we  gain  nothing,  even  in  the  estimation  of  our  opposers, 
by  a  want  of  firmness  in  maintaining  that  ground  which 
duty  to  God  and  love  for  the  souls  of  men  require  us  to  take. 
Notwithstanding  my  apparent  difficulties,  I  find  more  peace 
of  mind,  more  free  communication  with  a  throne  of  grace, 
more  respect  from  my  opposers  as  well  as  from  my  friends, 
and  more  animation  in  my  various  duties,  when  I  can  rise 
above  the  fear  of  man,  and  go  straight  forward  in  the  path 
which  I  believe  the  providence  of  God  has  marked  out  for 
me,  and  which  his  grace  directs  me  to  pursue.  Do  not 
understand  me,  my  endeared  brother,  as  recommending  in- 
civility of  demeanor,  or  an  unrequired  obstinacy  in  things 
indifferent,  or  a  hasty  self-determination,  taken  without 
cautious  inquiry  and  earnest  prayer.  But  where  we  know 
we  are  right  by  the  best  of  tests,  the  outward  word  and  the 
inward  witness,  let  us  beware  how  we  make  shipwreck  of 
faith  and  a  good  conscience,  in  accommodation  to  the  views 
of  ungodly  men,  or  of  misjudging  Christians. 

"  You  see  how  I  open  all  my  heart  to  you,  and  I  want 
to  open  it  still  wider ;  expecting  in  return  just  as  much  of 
your  confidence  as  you  are  pleased  to  give. 

"Ever  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

About  this  time  an  incident  occurred,  which,  coming  in 
silently  along  the  track  of  his  customary  labors,  must  have 
greatly  gladdened  the  heart  of  this  faithful  minister  of  Christ. 
One  of  the  Episcopal  churches  in  the  city  of  New  York  hav- 
ing been  closed  for  two  months  during  the  summer,  a  mem- 
ber of  its  congregation  who  had  been  a  wretched  backslider, 
attended,  durmg  that  period.  Dr.  Milnor's  ministry,  both  on 


2-56  MEMOIR   OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

Sundays  and  at  his  weekly  lectures.  While  thus  engaged, 
the  Spirit  of  God  fell  upon  him,  reached  him  as  he  lay  m 
the  blood  and  guilt  of  his  fall,  and  reawakened  him  to  the 
trembling  but  blessed  hope,  that  he  might  yet  be  embraced 
in  the  love  of  his  all-gracious  Hedeemer.  Upon  the  reopen- 
ing of  the  closed  church,  and  his  return  to  its  regular  minis- 
trations, he  addressed  a  letter  of  warm  and  glowing  thanks 
to  Dr.  Milnor,  as  the  instrument,  in  God's  hands,  of  the  new 
life  which  he  felt  stirring  within  himself,  and  of  deep  and 
humble  supplication  that  they  might  meet  in  glovy  at  the  last 
great  day.  The  fact  is  mentioned  as  one  among  a  multitude 
of  instances  in  which  the  labors  of  Dr.  Milnor  were  blessed 
to  others  besides  the  members  of  his  immediate  charge. 

He  had  now  passed  another  of  the  annual  conventions 
of  the  diocese  of  New  York,  and  soon  after  wrote  again  to 
his  friend,  the  theological  student  in  college.  Parts  of  his 
letter  furnish  perhaps  as  strong  a  view  as  was  ever  exhibited 
of  those  points  in  his  character  and  opinions  in  wliich  he  dif- 
fered from  his  distinguished  diocesan. 

To  the  Rev. 


"New  York,  Oct.  25,  1826. 

*'  My  valued  Brother — Your  esteemed  letters  of  Au- 
gust and  September  are  before  me. 

"  The  bishop's  charge  at  the  late  Convention  was  an 
official  array  of  the  leading  parties  in  our  church,  and  a  for- 
mal vindication  of  that  denominated  '  High  Church,'  against 
the  imputation  of  bigotry,  fondness  of  power,  formalism,  and 
non-evangelism.  1  heard  the  substance  of  it  more  than  two 
years  ago,  in  a  sermon  delivered  by  Bishop  Hobart  on  a  Sun- 
day evenhig  in  St.  Paul's.  Every  division  of  it  abounded 
with  language  not  to  be  misunderstood  against  those  whom 
I  indignantly  refuse  to  call,  in  the  sense  intended,  *  io^^> 
Churchmen,'  the  pious,  devoted,  and  liberal  members  of  oui 
Zion.  In  the  bishop's  subsequent  address  to  the  Conven 
tion,  he  denounced,  in  unqualified  terms,   our  associating 


HIS  MINISTEY.  257 

with  other  denominations  in  Tract  Societies  and  Sunday- 
school  Unions.  Persoitally,  to  me  the  bishop  is  as  kind  as 
ever ;  but  he  designs  to  wound  me,  and  all  who  think  with 
me,  in  every  official  communication  which  he  makes.  Be 
it  so.  If  persecution  unto  death  were  the  penalty  of  my 
persevering  dissent  from  what  I  deem  his  most  exception- 
able system,  I  feel  confident  that  God  would  enable  me  to 
sustain  the  trial ;  and 'I  have  no  apprehension  that  my  con- 
stancy will  fail  under  any  less  fearful  expressions  of  that 
spirit  which  only  wants  power  to  make  it  issue  in  acts  of 
unqualified  oppression.  I  mourn  over  this  spirit,  as  I  do 
over  the  daily  proofs  which  I  see  of  greater  and  greater  op- 
position to  the  truth.  More  hereafter.  At  present,  I  have 
room  to  say  but  that  I  am, 

*'  Yery  aflectionately,  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 
The  language  of  this  paragraph  has  no  little  strength ; 
perhaps  it  may  be  thought  to  carry  somewhat  of  severe  ear- 
nestness. But  when  the  circumstances  of  the  writer  are 
considered — placed,  as  he  was,  at  the  centre  of  an  opposi- 
tion more  easily  felt  than  counteracted,  and  the  more  irritat- 
ing in  proportion  as  it  was  irresponsible — his  expressions, 
perhaps,  will  not  be  deemed  too  strong.  The  letter  is  im- 
portant in  its  place,  as  disclosing  more  plainly  than  any  yet 
presented,  the  relation  in  which  he  stood  to  the  ruling  influ- 
ences of  the  diocese — a  relation  coeval  in  its  origin  with  his 
rectorship  of  St.  George's,  and  encompassing  him  with  its 
more  or  less  painful  pressure  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

To  the  same. 

"New  York,  Feb.  20,  1827. 
"  My  dear  Friend  and  Brother — It  is  with  great  pleas- 
ure that  I  now  congratulate  you  on  your  emancipation  from 
the  drudgery  of  teaching  as  a  secular  instructor,  and  the 
assumption  of  your  more  appropriate  work  of  teaching  men 
how  they  may  become  '  wise  unto  salvation.'     Now  that  you 


258  MEilOlE  OF  l)R.  I-IlLIsOr.. 

arc  settled  down  in  a  new  parish  and  a  new  diocese,  I  want 
a  long  letter  from  you  to  tell  me  all  your  feelings  and  doings, 
with  all  your  prospects  and  hopes  of  usefulness.  I  hope,  my 
dear  brother,  you  will  excuse  the  interest  which  I  feel  in 
whatever  relates  to  you ;  for  I  have  lost  none  of  that  cor- 
diality of  attachment  which  I  have  so  often  had  occasion  to 
express,  and  which,  I  trust,  will  be  continued  beyond  the 
little  time  we  shall  be  allowed  to  converse  together  this  side 
of  eternity.  There  is  a  hallowed  character  in  Christian 
friendship,  which  gives  it  a  stability  as  well  as  a  warmth 
unknown  to  the  friendships  of  the  world.  It  is  this  cher- 
ished enjoyment,  that  fills  my  breast  with  some  of  its  most 
delightful  emotions.  Next  to  the  love  of  Christ,  how  sweet 
to  love  his  disciples,  to  mingle  our  sympathies  with  theirs, 
to  interchange  evidences  of  affection,  to  repose  in  each  other's 
faithful  counsels,  and  to  pray  for  spiritual-  blessings  on  each 
other's  behalf.  I  bless  God,  that  wliile  I  am  compelled  to 
mourn  over  the  coldness  of  feeling  among  our  clerical  breth- 
ren, and  am  obliged,  here,  to  look  for  what  seems  lacking  in 
them,  to  those  of  other  names  but  of  kindred  minds,  I  am 
still  solaced  by  the  correspondence  which  it  is  my  privilege 
to  hold  from  week  to  week  with  distant  brethren  of  more 
congenial  sentiments  and  views. 

"It  will  give  you  pleasure  to  hear,  that  Christians  in 
St.  George's  have  become  more  alive  to  the  necessity  of  com- 
bined prayer  and  effort  in  behalf  of  the  unconverted.  Though 
a  few  only  of  encouraging  indications  have  appeared  among 
the  latter,  yet  there  is  evidently  more  intense  interest  mani- 
fested both  in  the  services  of  the  church,  and  in  my  weekly 
lecture ;  which  latter  I  continue  to  find  profitable  to  myself 
and  to  those  who  hear  me.  How  stand  matters  with  you  ? 
"Will  your  people  bear  the  truth  ?  I  am  sure  you  will  preach 
it,  whether  they  will  hear  or  whether  they  will  forbear. 
The  Lord  bless  and  prosper  you  in  all  things. 
"  Affectionately  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 


HIS  MINISTllY.  259 

To   the   same. 

"New  York,  May  28,  1827. 

*'  My  dear  Brother — I  feel  ashamed,  on  recurring  to  a 
large  bundle  of  unanswered  letters,  to  find  two  from  you,  for 
which  I  believe  no  return  has  been  made.  I  will  not  waste 
my  paper  and  your  precious  time  in  long  apologies  ;  but  only 
beg  you  to  believe,  that  I  do  not  intend  to  forego  the  pleasure 
and  advantage  of  your  friendship,  nor,  little  as  is  its  value, 
to  withhold  from  you  mine,  until  the  one  or  the  other  of  us 
shall  have  severed  that  bond  of  union  which  connects  us — 
our  common  love  of  the  Redeemer — or  have  received  his 
summons  to  that  blest  abode,  where  I  pray  God  we  may  be 
permitted  to  dwell  together  for  ever.  That  faith  which  I 
find  the  great  support  of  all  my  hopes  and  exertions,  encour- 
ages the  persuasion  that  the  former  event  is  not  likely  to 
occur.  The  latter  we  will  unite  in  leaving  to  the  disposal 
of  Him  who  doeth  all  things  well. 

*'  I  was  much  interested  by  your  account  of  the  state  of 
religion  in  your  parish.  What  with  the  prevalence  of  im- 
morality in  some,  and  of  formalism  and  cold-heartedness  in 
others,  your  difficulties  are  no  doubt  great ;  but  God  can 
magnify  his  grace  in  overcoming  all  these  obstacles  to  the 
spread  of  his  own  truth  ;  and  I  trust  the  encouraging  symp- 
toms of  awakening,  noticed  in  your  letter  of  last  month,  have 
already  strengthened  your  faith  and  animated  your  exertions. 
I  am  not  opposed  to  such  a  prudential  regard  to  circumstan- 
ces as  may  consist  with  a  faithful  discharge  of  duty ;  and  I 
feel  confident  that  it  will  be  your  study  to  combine  wisdom 
with  harmlessness.  While  we  should  not  flatter  the  wicked, 
nor  withhold,  either  in  public  or  in  private,  needful  and 
timely  reproof,  it  is  both  lawful  and  expedient  to  temper 
all  our  communications  with  Christian  suavity,  and  thus 
convince  those  who  would  oppose  themselves,  that  we  really 
love  them,  and  seek  to  do  them  good.  It  has  been  my  aim 
to  withhold  no  part  of  the  counsel  of  God  ;  to  give  ho  coun- 
tenance to  either  error  in  opinion  or  viciousness  in  life ;  and 


260  MEMOIR  OF  DE..  MILNOR. 

to  let  all  my  views  on  every  point,  whether  of  doctrine  or  of 
duty,  be  fully  known.  But  I  have  never  thought  that  there 
was  no  hope  of  a  sinner's  conversion  but  by  making  him 
angry.  Our  best  intended  communications  may  have  that 
effect ;  and,  in  such  a  case,  whether  they  harden  or  convert, 
we  must  be  satisfied  with  having  done  our  duty.  Certainly, 
however,  we  should  not  study  to  offend  ;  and  ever  should 
we  keep  a  most  prayerful  and  watchful  guard  upon  our  own 
spirits,  and  be  well  assured  that  our  motives  are  such  as  will 
commend  themselves  to  the  great  Searcher  of  hearts.  So 
doing,  we  may  confidently  leave  our  labors  to  the  disposal 
of  his  providence  and  grace. 

"  I  have  much  to  write  you  on  various  topics ;   but  1 
have  now  only  room  to  solicit  your  prayers,  and  to  assure 
you  that,  so  long  as  you  will  allow  me,  I  will  remain, 
"  Your  afiectionate  fi'iend  and  brother, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

About  this  time  he  met  with  an  accident,  which  came 
near  proving  instantly  fatal.  In  passing  to  the  city  from 
his  summer  residence,  he  was  thrown  upon  the  pavement, 
his  head  striking  the  curbstone,  with  a  violence  which  for 
some  days  rendered  his  recovery  very  doubtful.  To  this  he 
refers  in  his  next  letter. 

To  the  same. 

"New  York,  Aug.  21,  1827. 

"My  dear  Friend  and  Brother — I  have  before  me 
your  letter  of  the  2Gth  of  June ;  and  if  it  were  not  that  I 
presume  you  to  have  heard  of  my  calamity  in  falling  from 
the  Flushing  stage  the  early  part  of  July,  I  should  deem  it 
necessary  to  apologize  for  my  long  silence.  This  is  the  first 
day  since  the  1 1th  ult.  that  1  have  taken  a  seat  at  my  desk ; 
and  I  wish  you  to  consider  it  as  one  evidence  of  my  con- 
tinued and  warm  aflcction,  that  one  of  the  first  hours  of  my 
recovered  strength  is  devoted  to  you. 

"During  my  confinement,  I  have  often  looked  for  the 


HIS  MINISTRY.  261 

letter  which  you  ought  to  have  written  me ;  but  if  this  he 
the  means  of  drawing  from  you  an  early  communication,  I 
wdll  not  complain.  Indeed,  1  fear  you  will  not  discover  much 
of  any  other  object  in  my  writing  to  you  ;  for  a  prisoner,  just 
released  from  a  protracted  seclusion  from  the  world,  is  much 
better  fitted  for  receiving  than  for  communicating  infor- 
mation. 

"I  have,  however,  some  melancholy  tidings  to  transmit. 
Our  friend  and  brother,  Mr.  Duffie,"  the  originator  and 
first  rector  of  St.  Thomas's  church,  New  York,  "  died  last 
night ;  and,  if  my  strength  permit,  I  am  to  assist  as  a  pall- 
bearer at  his  funeral  this  afternoon.  A  few  weeks  ago  he 
was  at  my  house,  and  had  much  more  reason  then  to  antici- 
pate his  being  called  to  such  a  service  for  me,  than  that  I 
should  be  called  to  assist  in  the  last  respects  to  his  remains. 
Thus  mysterious  are  the  ways  of  God's  providence.  0  how 
unutterably  important  to  be  prepared  for  the  most  sudden 
call !  The  Lord  grant  that  all  these  visitations  may  have 
their  due  eflect  upon  all  our  minds.  No  reflections  should 
be  more  abiding  with  us  of  the  ministry,  than  the  importance 
of  a  fixed  and  continued  assurance,  that  while  we  preach  to 
others,  we  do  not  ourselves  become  castaways.  My  personal 
warnings  have  impressively  taught  me  the  value  of  personal 
religion,  and  the  absolute  necessity,  in  the  midst  of  all  our 
complicated  duties  to  others,  to  see  that  matters  stand  right 
between  God  and  our  own  souls. 

"  Your  ever  aflijctionate 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

To   the   same. 

"New  York,  Nov.  30,  1827. 
"  My  dear  Friend  and  Brother — I  have  abundant 
cause  for  discouragement  in  the  little  fruit  which  results 
from  my  own  labors,  and  m  the  opposition  of  the  enemies  of 
truth-  within  our  church.  But,  so  long  as  God  allows  me,  I 
will  strive  to  do  something  in  his  service ;  and  will  pray  for 


262  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

grace  to  enable  me  to  meet  the  difficulties  which  will  ever, 
more  or  less,  attend  the  faithful  laborer  in  his  vineyard.  AYe 
have  need  of  much  firmness,  in  union  with  great  meekness 
of  temper,  in  the  present  state  of  things.  By  divine  aid,  I 
will  not  barter  the  hopes  of  eternity  for  the  approbation  of 
man ;  nor  swerve  from  a  course  of  clearly  indicated  duty, 
whatever  offence  it  may  give.  At  the  same  time,  I  am 
willing,  and  do  desire  to  put  my  feelings  under  proper  re- 
straint, where  undeserved  injuries  are  offered  ;  and  therefore 
I  have  refrained,  though  much  incited  to  it  by  my  friends, 
from  answering  the  partial  and  unfair  representation  of  a 
conversation  between  the  assistant-bishop  of  Pennsylvania 
and  myself,  which  has  been  appended  to  the  reasons  pub- 
lished by  the  Episcopal  college  for  the  consecration  of  that 
most  strenuous  of  high  churchmen.  I  hope  you  have  read 
the  well-considered,  moderate,  and  able  pamphlet  of  dear 
brother  Mcllvaine.  Though  I  felt  averse  to  his  writing,  yet 
I  am  satisfied  that  what  he  has  done  will  not  only  vindicate 
his  character — that  was  unnecessary — but  give  information 
to  the  public,  which  was  much  wanted,  as  to  the  sentiments 
and  opinions  of  the  evangelical  clergy.  Eveiy  minister  and 
layman  on  the  moderate  side,  from  whom  I  have  heard  any 
expression  of  opinion  respecting  it,  has  given  it  his  unquaU- 
iied  approbation. 

"  Farewell,  my  very  dear  brother.     I  love  your  letters, 
and  I  love  them  to  be  lo?2g— not  in  coming,  but  in  comjpa?&. 
"With  the  warmest  affection, 

**  Ever  yours, 

"  JAMES  MILNOR." 

To   the   same. 

"New  York,  April  21,  1828. 

"  My  dear  Brother — The  Lord  be  thanked,  that  you 

are  still  able  to  work,  and  that  he  is  pleased  to  give  you  souls 

for  your  hire.     Should  the  encouraging  account  which  you 

give  me  of  the  state  of  things  in  your  congregation  be  fol- 


HIS  MINISTRY.  2G3 

lowed  by  the  result  of  a  manifest  revival,  you  must  avoid  a 
name  so  offensive  to  many,  and  call  it  '  an  increased  atten- 
tion to  religion.'  All  Avill  then  be  well.  It  is  a  pity,  when 
the  Lord  has  of  late  years  been  so  evidently  pleased  to  ac- 
comphsh  the  work  of  his  grace  by  special  effusions  of  his 
Spirit,  that  in  such  a  church  as  ours,  the  operations  of  that 
Spirit  should  be  denied,  though  proved  by  the  very  evidence 
to  which  Christ  himself  refers  as  decisive — '  their  fruits' 
That  there  have  been  alleged  revivals  which  deservedly  lost 
all  credit  with  considerate  Christians  for  want  of  this  evi- 
dence, none  of  the  best  friends  of  those  merciful  visitations 
will  deny  ;  and  it  cannot  be  questioned,  that  many  enthusi- 
astic excesses  and  censurable  circumstances  of  various  kinds, 
have  accompanied  true  revivals.  But  with  every  needed 
abatement,  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  of  their  having  been, 
in  countless  instances,  the  means  of  salvation  to  multitudes ; 
and  that  they  are,  and  will  be  among  the  means  of  hasten- 
ing the  latter-day  glory  of  the  church.  Let  us  pray  ear- 
nestly that  an  anxious  concern  for  the  best  interests  of  our 
fellow-men  may  be  revived  in  our  own  hearts,  and  in  those 
of  our  lay-brethren ;  peradventure  the  covenant-keeping  God 
whom  we  serve,  may  grant  us  a  more  signal  blessing,  in 
pouring  out  his  Spirit  upon  our  people,  than  we  have  yet 
known. 

"  Our  increase  of  communicants  in  St.  George's  has  not, 
of  late,  been  very  rapid ;  and  yet  my  Sunday  and  week-day 
services  were  never  better  attended,  nor  the  prayer-meetings 
more  regularly  held  and  fervently  conducted,  nor  the  six 
Sunday-schools  of  my  church  better  supplied  with  teachers 
and  pupils.  Nor  does  God  leave  himself  without  witness 
among  us,  in  the  ingathering  of  souls.  Since  the  last  Con- 
vention, I  have  received  to  communion  about  twenty.  We 
have  now  some  earnest  inquirers ;  but  still,  I  mourn  the 
coldness  of  my  own  heart,  the  feebleness  of  my  labors,  and 
their  inadequate  results,  and  would  hail  with  unspeakable 
gratitude  Fuch  an  ovidcnce  of  the  divine  faA^or  as  has  been 


2C)4  MEMOm  OF  DR.  MILNOH. 

afforded  to  many  congregations  in  our  land,  to  whatever  odi- 
um it  might  subject  me  in  the  minds  of  many  around  me. 

"Can  you  tell  me  whom  I  ought  to  appouit  to  the  Mil- 
nor  professorship  in  Kenyon  college  ?  If  I  had  dared  to  hope 
that  a  certain  friend  of  mine,  not  a  hundred  miles  from  you, 
would  have  accepted  it,  he  would  have  been  promptly  named. 
But  I  have  had  no  hope.  What  thhdi  you  he  would  have 
said  to  such  a  proposal  ? 

"  With  unabated  afl^ection,  ever  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1828,  and  the  beginning  of  1829, 
Dr.  Milnor  passed  through  one  of  the  most  trying  scenes  of 
his  ministerial  course.  It  was  the  part  which  he  took  in  the 
organization  and  dissolution  of  "  The  Protestant  Episcopal 
Clerical  Association  of  New  York." 

During  the  summer  of  1828,  a  feeling,  w^hich  had  for 
some  years  been  rising  in  the  church,  began  to  express  itself 
in  a  half-audible  call  lor  some  association  of  a  specially  cler- 
ical character,  "  for  the  purposes  of  prayer,  religious  conver- 
sation, expounding  the  Scriptures,  and  other  similar  exer- 
cises." One  of  the  first  utterances  of  this  feeling  was  in  the 
ear  of  Bishop  Hobart,  by  "  the  rector  of  one  of 'the  principal 
congregations  of  the  city."  This  address  to  the  bishop  Avas 
evidently  prompted  by  a  desire  to  engage  him  as  the  head 
and  leader  of  the  movement,  it  being  well  known  that  what- 
ever of  a  religious  character  he  should  either  favor  or  oppose, 
would  be  either  favored  or  opposed  by  the  great  majority  of 
the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  diocese.  Unfortunately,  although 
the  suggestion  came  to  him  from  one  with  whom  he  had 
"  the  happiness  to  agree  substantially  as  to  principles  and 
policy,"  yet,  while  he  "  approved  the  contemplated  object," 
he  had  *'  various  objections  to  the  proposed  plan  of  accom- 
plishing it."  But  as  the  interview  was  friendly  and  unoffi- 
cial, tlie  subject  being  "kindly  discussed"  between  the  par- 
ties, it  was  not  supposed  that  the  bishop's  objections  would 
lead  him  openly  and  officially  to  oppose  the  movement. 


HIS  MiNismr.  265 

Accordingly,  when  the  Annual  Convention  assembled,  in. 
October,  1828,  it  was  determined  by  the  clergy  who  were 
favorable,  to  proceed  to  the  contemplated  organization.  A 
preparatory  meeting  was  held,  and  a  second  appointed  for 
'•  consummating  "  it. 

In  these  steps,  no  further  consultation  with  the  bishop 
was  had,  because  it  was  thoroughly  felt  that  all  such  con- 
sultation would  be  unavailing,  and  because  it  had  been  deter- 
mined to  proceed  in  the  prosecution  of  an  object,  which  the 
movers  considered  of  great  importance,  and  from  the  prosecu- 
tion of  wliich  no  earthly  power  had  a  right  to  restrain  them. 

A  few  hours,  however,  before  the  meeting  for  "  consum- 
mating" the  organization,  the  bishop  "  accidentally  heard" 
of  what  was  passing,  and  "immediately  resolved  on  seeing 
two  of  the  four  or  five  clergy  of  the  city  who,  as  far  as  he 
could  learn,  were  as  yet  engaged  in  this  measure,  in  order 
to  a  frank  and  friendly  communication  with  them."  These 
two  clergymen  were  the  Rev.  Drs.  Wainwright  and  Milnor. 
"  To  them  he  stated  earnestly  and  solicitously  the  reasons 
which  convinced  him  that  the  plan  which  they  proposed  for 
accomplishing  their  object,  was  inexpedient  and  unneces- 
sary." Still,  as  in  these  interviews,  especially  in  that  between 
Bishop  Hobart  and  Dr.  Milnor,  the  former  expressly  disclaim- 
ed addressing  the  latter  in  an  official  capacity,  and  more  than 
once  desired  to  be  considered  as  conversing  with  him  "not 
as  his  bishop,  but  as  a  friend,"  it  was  not  deemed  either 
necessary  or  advisable  to  desist  from  the  work  upon  which 
they  had  so  seriously  entered.  They  therefore  persevered, 
and  on  the  evening  of  that  day  completed  the  organization 
of  "  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Clerical  Association  of  the 
City  of  New  York,"  having  "  for  its  object  the  promotion  of 
the  personal  piety  and  the  official  usefulness  of  its  members, 
by  devotional  exercises  and  by  conversation  on  missionary 
and  such  other  religious  subjects  as  might  conduce  to  mutual 
edification." 

From  its  inception,  this  society  was  composed  of  ciergy- 

Mem.  Milnor.  1  2 


266  MEMOIE.  OF  DIl.  MILNOPc. 

men  representing  the  various  shades  of  opinion  in  the  church, 
and  was  otherwise  guarded  against  the  danger  of  abuse.  Its 
meetings  were  opened  and  closed  with  approved  forms  of 
devotion  ;  any  clergyman  of  our  church  in  New  York  and  its 
vicinity,  of  whatever  shade  of  opinion,  might  hecome  a  mem- 
ber by  signifying  his  wish  to  the  secretary  in  writmg,  with 
his  approbation  of  the  nature  and  object  of  the  association ; 
and  any  member  might  invite  any  other  clergyman  ^f  our 
church,  not  resident  in  either  New  York  or  its  vicinity,  to 
attend  any  of  the  regular  meetings  of  the  society.  Besides, 
by  mutual  consent,  the  ordinary  topics  of  theological  and 
ecclesiastical  controversy  were  excluded  from  the  discussions 
of  the  members,  and  their  exercises  directed  to  "the  promo- 
tion of  harmony  of  feeling  and  of  character,"  and- not  to  that 
of  "  perfect  uniformity  of  opinion."  This  latter  result  they 
professed  to  consider  "just  about  as  feasible  as  to  regulate 
the  proportions  of  the  waves  of  some  mighty  river." 

Thus  organized,  constituted,  and  designed,  this  most 
praiseworthy  association  commenced  its  regular  meetings. 
It  was  some  months,  however,  before  the  printed  constitu- 
tion and  forms  of  devotion  could  be  furnished  for  the  use  of 
the  members.  The  pamphlet  containing  these  documents, 
pruited,  not  published,  came  from  the  press  at  the  close  o*' 
the  year  1828  ;  but  being  "  at  first  inaccurately  printed," 
"many  corrections  were  necessary,"  and  it  was  not  ready 
for  distribution  until  several  weeks  later.  At  length  a  copy 
of  the  corrected  impression,  bearing  the  imprint  of  1829,  fell 
into  the  bishop's  hands.  Indeed,  "  it  had  been  intended  to 
send  a  copy  to  each  Protestant  Episcopal  clergj'man  in  the 
city."  Before  this  could  be  done,  however,  and  even  "  before 
Ihe  members  received  their  copies,"  one  "  accidentally"  met 
the  bishop's  eye.  He  immediately  issued  his  memorable 
"  Pastoral  Letter,"  addressed  "  to  the  clergy  and  laity"  of 
the  diocese.  TJiis  document  appeared  the  21st  of  February, 
1829,  "  before  the  first  meeting  of  the  association"  after  the 
correction  of  their  constitution  and  forms  of  devotion  ;  so  that 


HIS  MINISTRY.  267 

the  members  received  the  Pastoral,  m  all  its  formidableness, 
before  they  were  favored  with  a  sight  of  their  own  simple 
regulations  and  ritual  in  print.  It  came  "  not  merely  to  the 
surprise,  but  to  the  utter  astonishment  of  every  member, 
some  of  whom  would  not  believe  the  rumor  of  its  publication, 
when  it  reached  them."  To  rumor,  however,  quickly  suc- 
ceeded ocular  demonstration,  and  they  were  left  with  nothing 
to  do  but  to  gather  up  their  scattered  powers  of  reflection, 
and  forthwith  consider  the  question,  whether  they  would 
dissolve  the  association,  or  continue  it  against  the  officially 
expressed  disapprobation  of  their  bishop. 

Meanwhile,  they  published  to  the  world  their  constitu- 
tion and  forms  of  devotion,  with  "  Prefatory  Remarks," 
explaining,  and  mildly  defending  their  course,  and  taking  a 
brief  but  respectful  notice  of  the  "  Pastoral  Letter."  This 
drew  forth  a  "Vindication"  of  the  "Letter,"  anonymous  in 
form,  but  evidently  from  the  pen  of  the  bishop.  This,  in  its 
turn,  was  followed  by  a  full  "  Account  of  the  true  Nature 
and  Object  of  the  Association,"  with  "A  Defence"  of 
the  same  from  objections  which  had  been  urged  against  it. 
And  this,  finally,  was  succeeded  by  a  "  Brief  Notice"  of 
the  Account  and  Defence,  probably  from  the  same  pen  with 
the  "Vindication."  The  public  papers,  too,  took  up  the 
doings  of  the  bishop  and  the  association  ;  the  noise  was  heard 
from  end  to  end  of  the  land ;  even  from  beyond  the  eastern 
limits  of  the  states  came  back  an  echo  of  the  sound ;  and 
various  movings  in  the  atmosphere  of  feeling  disturbed  the 
quiet  of  the  church. 

Li  the  midst  of  this  controversy,  the  fate  of  the  associa- 
tion was  decided  by  the  movement  of  one  of  its  members, 
who  had  been  the  first  actor  in  the  business.  He  withdrew, 
and  in  a  published  letter  to  his  brethren  of  the  association, 
assigned  his  reasons  for  the  step.  Immediately  after  the 
receipt  of  his  letter,  the  remaining  members  decided  upon 
dissolving  the  organization.  Their  "  Account  cmd  Defence  " 
was  accordingly  accompanied  with  a  statement  of  reasons 


268  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

for  the  dissolution.  The  feehng  of  the  association  had  pre- 
viously been  in  favor  of  its  continuation,  but  the  withdraw- 
ment  of  one  of  its  leading  members  changed  the  aspect  of  the 
question  before  it,  inasmuch  as  its  continuation  after  that 
event,  would  have  seemed  to  justify  the  charge  of  j)artisav 
design.  The  members,  therefore,  no  longer  deliberated,  and 
the  dissolution  was  publicly  announced  in  their  very  able 
"Account  and  Defence"  of  the  organization. 

Such  is  the  history  of  the  brief-lived  "  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Clerical  Association  of  New  York."  It  has  been  given 
because  Dr.  Milnor  was  one  of  the  two  leading  presbyters 
under  whose  auspices  it  was  organized,  and  that  one  emphat- 
ically on  whom  the  heaviest  weight  of.  odium  fell,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  hostile  position  assumed  and  of  the  arbitrary 
course  pursued  by  Bishop  Hobart. 

His  next  letter,  on  the  list  of  those  Avhich  have  been 
recovered,  was  on  a  subject  deeply  interesting  to  its  writer, 
that  of  a  school  for  training  colored  missionaries  to  Africa. 

To  the  Rev.  J.  P.  K.  Henshaw. 

"New  York,  Jan.  27,  1830. 
"  Rev.  and  dear  Brother — I  sympathize  sincerely  with 
your  young  friend,  whom  I  presume  to  be  Mr.  Cleveland,  in 
the  anxiety  which  he  has  so  long  felt  to  direct  his  efforts 
into  a  channel  of  usefulness,  for  which  there  has  yet  appear- 
ed no  opening.  The  school  attempted  some  years  ugo  in 
New  Jersey,  for  the  instruction  of  colored  youth  having  a 
view  to  the  ministry  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  fell  through, 
partly  for  want  of  support,  and  partly  in  consequence  of  the 
licentious  conduct  of  some  of  the  pupils.  A  subsequent 
attempt,  principally  by  gentlemen  in  Newark,  and,  on  their 
invitation,  a  few  from  other  states,  who  consulted  together  at 
a  meeting  in  that  place  which  I  attended,  was  followed  by 
no  beneficial  results.  It  was  then  hoped  that  a  considerable 
sum  left  by  General  Kosciusko,  might  be  secured  for  this 
purpose  ;  and  Mr.  Lear  of  Washingtx)n,  who  is  administrator, 


HIS  MINISTRY.  2G9 

cwni  testamcnto  annexo,  and  who  has  the  funds  in  his 
hands,  gave  encouragement  for  such  a  hope.  Afterwards, 
however,  General  Kosciusko's  will  was  contested  hy  his 
relatives  ;  and  whether  it  is  still  in  litigation  or  not,  I  do 
not  know. 

"  In  the  African  mission-school  at  Hartford,  there  are 
four  young  men,  and  the  wife  of  one  of  them,  receiving 
instruction  preparatory  to  a  removal  to  Africa.  Three  of 
these  young  men  Bishop  Brownell  intends  to  ordain.  One  is 
not  expected  to  have  all  the  qualifications  requisite  to  a 
clergyman,  but  is  to  go  out  as  catechist  and  schoolmaster. 
The  woman,  it  is  hoped,  will  make  a  good  schoolmistress. 
That  school  is  ready  to  receive  other  pupils  of  piety  and 
promise,  who,  like  those  already  there,  will  be  taught  by  a 
suitable  instructor  in  secular  learning,  and  by  Bishop  Brow- 
nell and  Mr.  Wheaton  in  theology.  The  bishop  allows  them 
to  hold  a  weekly  religious  meeting  for  colored  persons,  and 
to  exercise  themselves  in  extemporaneous  preaching. 

"  '  But  what  are  these  among  so  many  V  If  the  wants 
of  Africa  received  the  sympathy  and  commiseration  to  which 
they  are  entitled,  a  large  seminary,  with  a  special  view  to 
their  supply,  would  be  at  once  established.  But  the  variety 
of  other  calls,  the  distance  of  the  object,  the  supposed  diffi- 
culty of  obtainhig  well-disposed  pupils  having  a  view  to  emi- 
gration to  that  country,  the  prevalent  denominational  distinc- 
tions, and  the  monies  required  to  accomplish  any  thing  on  an 
extended  scale,  all  seem  to  be  barriers  in  the  way.  If  we 
had,  I  will  not  say  a  Wilberforce,  but  an  Anthony  Benezet 
among  us,  who  would  arouse  public  attention  to  this  inter- 
esting object,  something  perhaps  might  be  done.  But  tal- 
ents, exertion,  and  what  must  be  their  associate  influence, 
are  required ;  and  our  young  friend,  with  all  his  zeal  and 
abilities,  could  effect  nothing  until  some  master-spirit  should 
arise  among  the  class  of  more  advanced  Christians,  whose 
hold  upon  the  public  mind  would  enable  him  to  rally  in  his 
cause  not  only  those  who  wish  well  to  Africa,  but  also  those 


270  MEMOIP.  OF  DR.  MILNOE.. 

who  would  prove  the  sincerity  of  their  feelings  hy  liberal 
contributions  to  her  spiritual  relief.  Unhappily,  almost  all 
our  colored  population  in  this  city  are  opposed  to  colonization, 
and  of  course  look  with  jealousy  on  all  attempts  that  may 
seem  to  favor  it ;  and  many  of  their  white  friends  partake  of 
their  feelings.  The  result  of  the  whole  is  an  entire  inability 
on  my  part  to  suggest  any  thing  that  would  assist  the  benev- 
olent aims  of  your  young  friend. 

"  I  wish  I  had  room  for  more  than  the  assurance  that  I 
remain 

"  Your  affectionate  brother, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

The  letters  which  have  filled  so  many  pages  of  this  me- 
moir, though  they  furnish  no  connected  view  of  the  incidents 
in  the  outer  life  of  Dr.  Milnor,  yet,  as  revelations  of  his  inner 
life,  are  peculiarly  valuable.  They  show  how  various  cur- 
rent events  affected  him  ;  and  illustrate  the  position  in  which 
he  was  providentially  placed  in  relation  to  his  own  church, 
and  to  various  religious  institutions  in  our  country.  Pro- 
foundly actuated  by  convictions  so  different  from  those  wliicli 
governed  the  majority  of  Episcopalians,  particularly  in  the 
diocese  to  which  he  belonged,  he  was,  for  many  years,  called 
to  few  posts  of  action  and  of  influence  among  them.  AVitli 
the  fewer  engrossing  cares,  therefore,  was  he  left  to  devote 
whatever  of  time  and  of  talent  he  could  command  to  the 
working  of  those  great  Christian  associations,  with  which 
our  country  was  beginning  to  abound,  which  were  designed 
to  embody  the  influence  of  all  truly  evangelical  denomina- 
tions, and  of  which  both  his  judgment  and  his  heart  con- 
strained him  to  approve.  Originally,  it  is  true,  he  engaged 
in  the  service  of  those  noble  institutions  because  he  loved 
their  spirit  and  their  objects,  without  stopping  to  inquire 
whether  there  were  not  other  channels  through  which  he 
might  pour  the  resources  of  his  influence  into  the  general 
stream  of  Christian  benevolence.  But  it  is  likewise  true, 
that  the  mere  withholding  of  his  cooperation  from  those 


HIS  MINISTHY.  271 

institutions  Vv^oukl  not  have  opened  to  liim,  as  substitutes, 
any  important  places  of  trust  and. influence  in  his  own 
church.  Under  a  sj-stem  of  ecclesiastical  tactics  which 
effectually  excluded  him,  tliose  places  were  alv/ays  care- 
fully, or  at  least  controllingly,  filled  by  others  of  very  dif- 
ferent religious  views ;  and  never  would  have  been  opened 
for  any  effective  exertion  of  his  influence,  save  on  an  aban- 
donment of  those  Christian  principles  and  sympathies  which 
he  cherished,  and  which  constituted  an  indestructible  part 
of  his  character  and  experience  as  a  disciple  of  Christ.  Vir- 
tually, therefore,  the  question  with  him  was,  whether  he 
would  throw  his  main  strength  into  such  institutions  as  the 
American  Bible  and  Tract  Societies,  or  be  content  with  those 
narrow  limits  of  a  parish,  which  would  practically  shut  him 
out  of  the  great  world  of  Christian  action  and  movement. 
Such  a  question,  proposed  to  such  a  mind,  could  not  remain  an 
hour  undecided.  He  knew,  indeed,  that  his  decision  would 
expose  him  to  opposition ;  he  knew  the  quarter  from  which, 
mainly,  that  opposition  would  come ;  and  he  knew  that  it 
w^ould  be  an  opposition  all  the  more  formidable  because 
backed  by  the  forces  of  an  early  and  still  sincere  friendship. 
Yet  all  tliis  could  not  move  him  from  his  course.  Many, 
now  living,  know  well  the  peculiar  pain  which  it  gave  him 
to  differ  from,  his  early  friend,  especially  when  appearing  in 
the  later  character  of  his  bishop.  Still,  he  felt  that,  so  long 
as  he  walked  with  scrupulous  care  according  to  all  the  pre- 
scriptions of  his  own  church,  he  had  a  Christian  man's  lib- 
erty to  walk,  in  other  things,  accordmg  to  his  own  best  judg- 
ment of  duty.  It  was,  doubtless,  a  difficult  path  to  tread ; 
and  if,  while  following  it,  his  private  correspondence  shows, 
that  in  alluding  to  the  measures  of  his  diocesan,  he  expressed 
himself,  though  never  with  discourtesy,  yet  sometimes  with 
warmth,  it  must  be  ascribed  to  the  peculiar  shaping  and 
power  of  that  influence  in  which  early  friendship  and  later 
office  were  brought  to  bear  against  him.  For  it  must  be 
confessed,  that  if  any  thing  can  excite  a  Christian  to  speak 


il    ir.*    ■■  ■■     ■>     i-      fir 


272  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

with  an  earnestness  beyond  what  his  own  calmer  thoughts 
would  prompt,  it  is  that  influence  with  which  office  arms 
itself,  when  it  attempts,  through  the  tenderness  of  friendship, 
to  enforce  what  authority  may  not  enjoin,  or  to  prevent  what 
authority  may  not  forbid.  Precisely  this  sort  of  influence 
was  Dr.  Milnor  repeatedly  compelled  to  encounter.  It  can- 
not, therefore,  be  a  matter  of  wonder  if  his  letters  sometimes 
show,  that  the  sensibilities  both  of  the  Christian  and  of  the 
friend  had  been  somewhat  disturbingly  touched.  The  dis- 
turbance was  always  momentary  ;  for  his  nature  was  of  the 
kindlier  sort,  that 

" carries  anger  as  the  flint  bears  fire — 


"Which,  much  enforced,  doth  show  a  hasty  spark, 
And  straight  is  cold  a^ain." 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  273 

PART IY: 

MISSION  TO  ENGLAND. 


SECTION   I. 

We  have  now  reached  the  period  at  which  Dr.  Miliior 
was  called  to  undertake  an  important  agency — that  of  dele- 
gate from  the  American  Bible  Society  and  other  religious 
institutions  in  this  country,  to  those  noble  kindred  associa- 
tions in  England,  which  the  month  of  May  annually  brings 
together  in  the  city  of  London.  These  societies,  though 
originating  in  different  lands,  yet  have  the  same  parentage. 
They  were  all  born  of  the  active  benevolence  of  Protestant 
Christianity.  The  same  spiritual  blood  flows  in  all  their 
veins.  No  wonder,  then,  that  they  desired  to  know  one 
another  face  to  face ;  and  it  is  much  to  the  credit  of  the 
American  sisterhood,  that  they  were  the  first  to  propose  and 
bring  about  the  meeting.  The  idea  of  sending  Dr.  Milnor 
as  a  delegate  from  the  American  to  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  had  for  some  time  been  entertained,  but  never 
till  now  could  those  who  conceived  the  idea  bring  it  into 
realization. 

The  feelings  with  which  he  undertook  tliis  enterprise, 
were  characteristic  at  once  of  his  usual  modest  estimate  of 
himself,  of  his  pious  devotion  to  the  cause  of  his  Master,  and 
of  his  heartfelt  interest  in  the  societies  which  he  was  to  rep- 
resent. Illustrative  of  this  is  the  following  extract  from  a 
letter  to  the  present  writer. 

"New  York,  Feb.  20,  1830. 
"Rev.  and  dear  Brother — You  will  be  surprised  to 
learn,  that  I  shall  not  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  as  you 
pass  through  New  York,  and  still  more  so  when  you  know 

12=^ 


274  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

the  cause.  I  have  yielded  to  the  importunity  of  my  friends, 
and  with  the  unanimous  consent  of  my  vestry,  have  agreed 
to  sail  for  England  on  the  i6th  of  the  ensuing  month.  Per- 
haps it  might,  by  some,  be  considered  affectation  in  me  to 
say,  that  I  have  acceded  to  this  measure  with  reluctance, 
and  that  nothing  but  a  sense  of  duty  would  have  led  me  to 
consent  to  so  long  an  absence  from  my  family  and  flock.  But 
I  am  sure  you  will  believe  me  when  I  say,  that  with  ad- 
vanced age,  much  of  the  curiosity  that  would  have  made 
such  a  proposal  delightful  in  my  earher  years,  has  subsided, 
and  that,  besides  other  feelings  of  repugnance  to  crossing  the 
ocean,  a  conviction  of  my  incompetency  for  many  duties 
which  will  probably  be  consequent  on  my  arrival  in  England, 
has  oppressively  increased  it.  I  shall,  if  God  permit,  attend 
the  principal  anniversaries  in  London,  and  perhaps  may  be 
called  to  take  some  part  in  their  proceedings  ;  and  much  as 
I  have  spoken  in  pubhc  in  my  own  land,  I  do  shrink  at  the 
thought  of  doing  so  before  such  assemblages  as  those  occa- 
sions bring  together.  But  if  God  enable  me  to  become  an 
instrument  in  opening  a  more  effectual  communication,  and 
of  exciting  a  more  feeling  interest  between  the  evangelical 
clergy  of  England  and  those  of  this  country,  and  between 
the  great  benevolent  institutions  there  and  here,  it  will  be 
no  imbittering  reflection,  during  the  residue  of  my  brief  term 
of  existence,  that  I  have  been  so  honored,  and  to  God  shall 
be  all  the  glory  and  the  praise.  Let  me  ask  of  you  your 
earnest  supplications  in  my  behalf,  for  divine  preservation 
and  support  in  the  enterprise  to  which  his  providence  ap- 
pears to  direct  me. 

"  Your  faithful  and  sincere  brother  in  Christ, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

So  soon  as  it  was  publicly  known  that  Dr.  Milnor  was 
going  to  England  in  a  public  capacity,  and  for  purposes  of 
business,  commissions  of  various  kinds  flowed  in  upon  him 
in  an  overwhelming  stream.  A  more  striking  proof  could 
not  well  have  been  given  of  the  high  estimate  in  which  he 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  275 

was  held,  and  of  the  thorough  confidence  which  he  enjoyed, 
as  an  able  and  faithlul  Christian  man* of  business,  than  that 
furnished  by  the  number  and  A^ariety  of  the  trusts  which  he 
was  urged  to  assume,  and  of  the  commissions  which  he  was 
called  to  execute.  He  had  enough  to  load  a  minister  plen- 
ipotentiary to  a  foreign  sovereign ;  and  to  discharge  them 
all,  seemed  to  require  the  assistance  of  a  secretary  of  lega- 
tion. And  yet  he  undertook  them  all  alone,  and  discharged 
them  all  alone.  By  his  uncommon  quickness  and  skill  in 
reducing  matters  of  business  to  system,  and  ui  doing  every 
thing  in  its  proper  time,  place,  and  order,  he  left  nothing 
uncared  for,  and  few  if  any  trusts  undischarged.  Some  idea 
of  the  force  of  these  remarks  may  be  had  from  a  simple 
enumeration  of  the  formal  commissions  which  he  bore,  and 
of  the  informal  matters  of  business  with  which  he  was 
intrusted. 

He  was  clothed,  then,  with  more  or  less  formal  commis- 
sions and  instructions  from  the  American  Bible  and  Tract 
Societies,  the  American  Sunday-school  Union,  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  the  American 
Education  Society,  the  American  Temperance  Society,  the 
American  Seamen's  Friend  Society,  the  Prison  Discipline 
Society,  the  General  Union  for  Promoting  the  Observance  of 
the  Christian  Sabbath,  and  the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church ;  all  of 
which  operate  throughout  the  broad  bounds  of  our  political 
union,  while  some  of  them  aim  to  throw  their  blessed  influ- 
ence over  all  the  earth.  Most  of  them,  likewise,  accomipa- 
nied  their  commissions  with  masses  of  documents,  reports, 
and  other  pamphlets,  for  his  examination  and  use  in  man- 
aging their  interests  abroad. 

Besides  these,  he  was  intrusted  with  mformal,  though 
important  business  commissions  from  the  Deaf  and  Dumb 
Asylum,  Bishop  Chase  and  Kenyon  College,  the  Savings- 
bank  in  New  York,  and  the  patrons  of  the  Episcopal  Re- 
corder, Philadelphia ;  while  private  commissions  also  were 


276  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

numerous,  and  involved,  some  of  them,  no  small  amount  of 
attention  to  business  details,  and  to  topics  for  inquiry. 

Charged  with  matters  of  such  grave  public  import,  and 
already  known  in  the  best  religious  circles  of  Europe  through 
his  long  connection  with  our  great  benevolent  institutions, 
Dr.  Milnor  stood  in  little  need  of  letters  of  introduction,  or 
of  "  epistles  of  commendation  ;"  yet,  with  such  he  was  most 
amply  furnished  from  the  best  sources  at  home  to  many  of 
the  best  characters  m  the  Christian  community  of  Great 
Britain  and  of  the  continent,  assuring  him  of  a  cordial  re- 
ception from  all  the  great  and  choice  Christian  spirits  in 
those  noble  lands  of  zeal,  benevolence,  and  enterprise  in  the 
cause  of  Christ. 

But  besides  all  these,  the  letters  which  poured  in  upon 
him  from  all  quarters,  expressive  of  warm  afiection  for  him- 
self, of  tlevout  aspiration  for  his  welfare,  and  of  a  high  ap- 
preciation of  the  importance  of  his  mission,  were  numerous 
and  gratifying. 

"  Had  it  been  in  my  power,"  writes  Dr.  Bedell,  "  I  should 
have  made  a  journey  to  New  York  on  purpose  to  express  my 
pleasure,  and  to  bid  you  farewell ;  but  duties,  and  roads,  and 
imperfect  health,  all  combined  to  forbid  me.  I  wish,  indeed, 
that  I  could  even  go  with  you  to  England,  just  to  enjoy  one 
such  feast  as  that  which  must  be  spread  out  before  the  spir- 
itual appetite  during  the  month  of  May  in  the  British  me- 
tropohs." 

"While  earthly  kings,"  remarks  the  president  of  the 
Tract  Society,  "with  their  views  confined  to  things  of  time 
and  sense,  are  sending  their  ambassadors  from  one  nation  to 
another,  you,  sir,  are  about  to  occupy  a  more  important  sta- 
tion. You  go  as  an  ambassador  from  the  King  of  kings  ; 
and  when  the  transactions  of  princes  shall  have  dwindled 
into  insignificance,  your  mission,  if  you  find  grace  to  be  faith- 
ful in  its  discharge,  will  tell  on  the  sacred  records  of  eter- 
nity." 

Thus  qualified,  accredited,  and  cheered,  Dr.  Mihior  took 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  277 

his  departure  from  New  York  on  the  promised  day,  March 
16,  1830,  ill  the  packet-ship  Florida,'^apt.  Tirikham.  He 
took  leave  of  his  family  and  a  number  of  friends  at  the  par- 
sonage, about  9  o'clock,  A.  M.,  and  on  proceeding  to  the 
steamer  which  was  to  convey  him  to  the  Q^uarantirie  ground, 
whither  the  day  before  the  ship  had  dropped  down,  he  met 
a  much  larger  number,  both  of  parishioners  and  of  other 
Christian  friends,  who  had  assembled  there  to  bid  him  fare- 
well. Some  of  them  "  accompanied  him  to  the  ship,"  and 
there,  with  every  expression  of  Christian  kindness,  bade  him 
adieu.  By  half  past  four,  he  was  at  sea ;  and  before  the 
pilot,  on  his  return  to  the  harbor,  was  out  of  sight,  he  had 
entered  systematically  on  the  business  of  his  mission.  In  a 
brief  note  which  he  sent  by  the  pilot  to  his  wife,  he  says, 
"  I  have  begun  my  journal,  and  if  preserved  from  sea-sick- 
ness, intend  to  keep  it  regularly." 

The  following  paragraph  shows  what  he  had  to  accom- 
plish, as  a  man  of  business. 

"  I  propose,  now  that  my  health  will  admit  of  my  read- 
ing and  writing" — he  had  had  the  usual  experience  of  sea- 
sickness— "  to  employ  myself  in  the  examination  of  various 
documents  referring  to  my  mission,  and  in  making  such  notes 
as  may  be  useful  on  my  arrival  in  England." 

And  the  following  shows  what  he  delighted  to  do  as  a 
Christian  man. 

"  Saturday,  March  20. — Hose  at  six  o'clock  this  morn- 
ing in  health,  after  a  good  night's  rest.  I  trust  I  was  ena- 
bled to  appropriate  those  lines  of  the  poet,  wliich  came  with 
feeling  to  my  mind  soon  after  I  awoke  : 

"  Arise,  ray  soul,  with  rapture  rise, 

And,  filled  with  love  and  fear,  adore 
The  awful  Sovereign  of  the  skies, 

Whose  mercy  lends  thee  one  day  more. 
And  may  this  day,  indulgent  Power ! 

Not  idly  pass,  nor  fruitless  be ; 
But  may  each  swiftly  passing  hour 

Still  nearer  bring  my  soul  to  thee." 


278  MEMOIU  OF  DH.  MILNOR. 

"  I  propose  to  let  no  day  pass  without  connecting  with 
my  devotional  duties  the  reading  and  meditating  upon  a  por- 
tion of  the  sacred  Scriptures.  Of  these  duties  I  do  not 
contemplate  noting  hi  general  the  character  in  my  journal. 
Sometimes,  however,  it  may  he  expedient  to  do  so.  This 
morning  I  commenced  reading  St.  Paul's  epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans. In  contemplating  the  awfully  wicked  character  of 
the  heathen  of  his  day,  as  described  in  the  first  chapter,  and 
comparing  it  with  the  present  state  of  most  of  the  uncon- 
verted nations  of  the  earth,  we  are  at  once  struck  with  their 
similarity.  And  what  a  powerful  incentive  does  the  melan- 
choly comparison  furnish  to  enlarged  efforts  on  the  part  of 
the  Christian  Church  for  their  conversion. 

"  Shall  we,  whose  souls  are  lighted 

With  wisdom  from  on  high — 
Shall  we,  to  men  benighted, 

The  lamp  of  life  deny? 
Salvation,  0  Salvation ! 

The  joyful  sound  proclaim; 
Till  earth's  remotest  nation 

Has  learned  Messiah's  name." 

He  was  accompanied  on  his  way,  by  the  usual  incidents 
of  a  voyage  :  fierce  storms,  and  dead  calms  ;  fair  winds,  and 
head  winds ;  beautiful  scenes,  and  appalling  sublimities ; 
swift  sailing,  and  sudden  perils.  The  first  and  last  Sabbaths 
of  the  passage  were  fine,  and  admitted  of  worship  and  preach- 
ing aboard  ship  ;  but  the  two  intermediate  were  so  tempest- 
uous as  to  render  the  enjoyment  of  those  privileges  impossi- 
ble.    The  ship  reached  Liverpool  the  14th  day  of  April. 

In  our  notices  of  Dr.  Milnor's  visit  to  England,  we  shall 
simply  follow  his  steps  by  giving  some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant passages  from  his  journal. 

"  Before  we  reached  the  dock,"  he  observes,  "  a  gentle- 
man came  off  in  a  boat,  offering  to  convey  me  to  the  pier, 
and  bringing  me  a  very  kind  letter  from  Mr.  Augustus  W. 
Gillet,  of  Birmingham,  requestuig  me  to  accept  the  hospi- 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  279 

talities  of  his  house  on  my  way  to  London.  I  found,  on  the 
wharf,  waiting  to  receive  me,  my  friend  Mr.  Thomas  Sands, 
who  gave  me  a  hearty  welcome,  and  insisted  on  conveying 
me,  in  a  carriage  which  he  had  ready,  to  his  house  in  Ever- 
ton.  I  went  with  him ;  and  the  evening  being  wet,  I  re- 
mained till  the  following  morning  within  doors.  Mr.  Sands 
had  invited  two  pious  and  intelligent  friends  to  spend  the 
evening  and  sup  with  him.  After  a  month's  separation  from 
my  religious  friends  in  New  York,  it  was  gratifying  to  meet 
with  kindred  spirits  immediately  on  my  arrival  in  Eng- 
land." 

After  recording  some  brief  visits  which  he  made  the 
next  day,  he  went  with  Mr.  Cromy,  a  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist persuasion,  to  visit  the  Liverpool  institution  for  the 
instruction  of  the  deaf  and  dumb.  "  I  asked  his  opinion," 
he  observes,  "as  to  the  advantage  of  teaching  this  unfor- 
tunate class  to  articulate.  He  was  decidedly  in  favor  of  its 
constituting  a  part  of  their  instruction.  I  stated,  as  objec- 
tions to  the  plan,  the  labor  and  difficulty  attending  it,  the 
limited  extent  to  which  it  can  be  carried,  and  the  imperfect, 
disagreeable,  guttural  enunciation,  painful  to  the  hearer  and 
apparently  so  to  the  speaker,  which  I  had  observed  in  our 
country  in  all  with  whom  the  experiment  had  been  tried ; 
for  which  reasons,  I  presumed,  it  had  not  formed  a  part  of 
the  system  of  the  Abbes  De  L'Epee  and  Sicard.  To  con- 
vince me  that  our  failure  must  have  been  owing  to  the 
want  of  proper  instruction,  he  proposed  that  we  should  visit 
a  family  of  his  acquaintance,  in  which  there  were  a  young 
gentleman  and  his  sister,  both  deaf  mutes,  the  former  of 
whom  had  learned  to  speak  in  a  manner  free  from  the  ob- 
jections which  I  had  urged.  We  found  them  at  home  with 
their  mother,  a  lady  in  independent  circumstances ;  and 
were  favored  with  an  interview  of  some  length,  in  which  I 
was  much  gratified  by  the  talent  exhibited,  and  the  im- 
provement made  by  them  in  various  branches  of  their  edu- 
cation.    Both  produced  a  variety  of  drawings  and  paintings 


2S0  MEilOm  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

copied  by  them,  and  beautiful  specimens  of  ornamental  writ- 
ing, to  which  the  young  lady  added  some  ingenious  work  in 
worsted,  which  she  had  just  completed.  The  latter  had 
made  very  Utile  proficiency  in  speaking  ;  and  the  young 
gentleman's  attempt,  instead  of  removing  my  objections, 
was  calculated  to  increase  them.  His  voice  was  so  weak, 
and  his  articulation  so  indistinct,  that,  when  he  addressed 
himself  to  his  sisters,  I  could  distinguish  scarcely  a  single 
word  ;  and  when  he  addressed  himself  immediately  to  me  it 
was  little  better.  He  repeated  the  Lord's  prayer  in  a  tone 
by  no  means  pleasant,  and  in  an  articulation  far  from  dis- 
tinct. My  unfavorable  impressions  in  regard  to  this  branch 
of  instruction  were  rather  confirmed  than  removed  by  this 
instance  of  its  failure." 

His  "  expected  engagements  in  London  obliging  liim  to 
hasten  on  to  that  metropolis  without  delay,"  he  was  not  able 
'*  to  wait  upon  the  gentlemen  to  whom  he  had  letters  of  in- 
troduction" in  Liverpool,  "or  to  see  more  than  the  exterior 
of  the  public  builduigs"  of  that  city.  He  started  for  Bir- 
mingham the  morning  of  Friday,  April  16,  and  arrived  at 
8  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

On  reachhig  Birmingham,  he  adds,  "  I  found  Mr.  Gillet 
waiting  my  arrival,  with  a  carriage  to  take  me  to  his  house 
at  Edgbaston,  a  pleasant  situation,  just  beyond  the  limits  of 
Birmingham.  Mrs.  Gillet  was  deeply  aflected  on  my  ar- 
rival ;  and  the  eldest  of  her  little  boys,  who  had  been  much 
attached  to  me  in  New  York,  clung  to  me  and  cried  for 
joy.  After  talking  about  friends  and  affairs  in  New  York, 
and  conducting  family  worship,  I  retired  to  rest  about  11 
o'clock." 

On  Saturday,  the  17th  of  April,  he  received  calls  from 
the  principal  clergy  of  Birmmgham  and  an  invitation  to 
dinner  with  the  high-bailiff.  He  observes,  "  In  the  course 
of  our  conversation  at  diimer,  a  curious  fact  was  developed 
in  relation  to  Dr.  Kewley,  my  predecessor  in  St.  George's. 
Mr.  Mayer,  a  Christian  Jew,  said  that  he  had  seen  him  in 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  281 

Italy,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  him.  He  passes  there 
by  the  name  of  'rather  Kewley;'  but  Mr.  Mayer  says  he 
knows  his  true  name  to  be  Lawson,  and  that  he  has  a 
brother  of  the  latter  name,  now  living  in  Liverpool,  with 
whom  also  he  is  acquainted.  He  believes  that  Dr.  Kewley 
was  a  Jesuit  during  the  whole  time  of  his  residence  in 
America." 

Sunday,  April  18,  he  spent  in  attending  worship  with 
the  family  of  his  friend  Mr.  Gillet.  The  parish  church  of 
St.  Martm  includes  "  the  whole  of  Birmingham,  except  two 
churches,  which  form  another  of  small  extent.  With  the 
exception  of  one  clergyman,  the  Rev.  E.  Burn,  now  far 
advanced  in  age,  there  were,  a  few  years  ago,  no  clergymen 
of  decidedly  evangelical  views  in  Birmingham.  At  present, 
full  one  half  of  the  whole  number  are  of  that  character." 
He  speaks  in  terms  of  high  commendation  of  all  the  sermons 
which  he  heard  during  the  day,  especially  of  that  by  Mr. 
James.  This  he  calls  "  one  of  the  finest  discourses  to  which 
he  ever  listened  ;"  and  adds,  "  After  family  worship,  I  re- 
tired to  rest  with,  I  trust,  a  heart  full  of  gratitude  to  God, 
for  enabling  me  to  spend,  both  agreeably  and  profitably,  this 
ray  first  Sabbath  in  England." 

On  Monday,  April  19,  Dr.  Milnor  started  for  London, 
intending  to  spend  one  day  in  Oxford  ;  but  when  he  reached 
that  city,  he  found  that  so  short  a  time  would  give  him  but 
little  acquaintance  there  ;  and  as,  with  the  exception  of  two 
slight  showers,  the  weather  was  fine,  he  determined  to  pro- 
ceed at  once  to  the  metropolis.  Accordingly,  he  arrived  in 
London  about  10  o'clock  at  night,  and  took  lodgings  till 
morning  at  "  The  "White  Horse,  Fetter-lane." 

"  Tuesday,  April  20,"  Dr.  Milnor  thus  continues  his 
journal.  "  This  morning  I  proceeded  to  the  Bible  Society's 
house,  Earl-street,  Blackfriars.  I  found  there  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Brandram,  the  principal  secretary,  who  conducted  me 
through  the  whole  establishment,  in  which  there  are  now 
not  less  than  700,000  volumes  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  in 


282  MEMOIE-  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

various  lan^ages.  The  house  is  in  a  narrow  street,  and  its 
interior  aspect  is  rather  gloomy ;  but  blessed  be  God,  there 
is  light  emitted  from  it  which  will  one  day  enlighten  all,  as 
it  has  already  enlightened  many,  of  the  dark  comers  of  the 
earth.  Mr.  Brandram  detained  me  with  the  expectation  of 
introducing  me  to  Lord  Teignmouth,  the  president,  who  was 
to  be  there,  by  appointment,  to  make  some  arrangements 
for  the  approaching  anniversary;  but  exactly  at  the  desig- 
nated hour,  a  servant  came  with  a  note  from  his  lordship, 
stating  that  the  unpleasantness  of  the  weather  and  the  state 
of  his  health  would  prevent  his  fulfilling  the  appointment. 

The  next  day  he  had  the  delightful  satisfaction  of  receiv- 
ing a  letter  from  home,  and  the  pleasure  of  a  visit  from  a 
New  York  acquaintance.  In  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Milnor,  after 
the  rambles  of  the  day,  he  says,  "  You  may  well  suppose, 
that  in  this  wilderness  of  houses,  I  feel  myself  very  much 
a  stranger ;  and  if  I  did  not  anticipate  a  change,  should 
scarcely  be  able,  separated  from  all  I  hold  most  dear  on 
earth,  to  keep  up  my  spirits.  But  to-morrow  I  shall  begin 
to  deliver  my  letters  of  introduction,  and  I  trust  that,  ere 
long,  I  shall  have  some  with  whom  I  may  converse.  My 
thoughts  tend  continually  towards  home,  and  the  happiest 
day  I  shall  know,  if  Providence  permit  me  to  see  it,  will  be 
that  in  which  I  shall  rejoin  my  beloved  family  and  congre- 
gation." 

"  Thursday,  April  22. — Heceived  a  note  from  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Brandram,  inviting  me  to  accompany  him  in  liis  gig  to 
the  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Bromley  and  Beckenham 
Auxiliary  Church  Missionary  Society.  On  account  of  my 
desire  to  deliver  some  of  my  letters  of  introduction  to-day,  I 
waited  on  Mr.  Brandram,  and  endeavored  to  excuse  myself; 
but  he  was  urgent,  and  I  concluded  to  acquiesce  m  his 
wishes.  "We  reached  the  village  of  Bromley,  in  Kent,  about 
1 2  o'clock,  where  I  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Cater,  the  presi- 
dent of  the  society,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bickersteth,  one  of  the 
principal  secretaries  of  the  parent  institution,  and  the  com- 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  283 

mittee  of  the  society.  The  meeting  was  opened  with  prayer, 
and  a  concise  but  appropriate  address  hy  the  president." 

After  giving  an  account  of  the  exercises,  in  which  he 
took  part,  Dr.  Mihior  thus  adverts  to  one  of  the  charitable 
institutions  of  the  place. 

"  I  was  shown,  at  Bromley,  an  establishment  for  the 
support  of  forty  clergymen's  widows.  The  object  is  excel- 
lent, but  there  are  many  reasons  for  believing,  that  the 
money  annually  expended  in  this  way  would  be  better  laid 
out  in  annuities  to  the  objects  of  the  charity,  leaving  their 
places  of  residence  to  their  own  option.  What  I  had  seen 
of  an  institution  for  the  support  of  poor  widows  in  America, 
convinced  me  of  the  inexpediency  of  congregating  them  into 
one  family ;  and  on  inquiry,  I  found  that  this  widows' 
house  was  not  free  from  the  same  jealousies,  slanders,  and 
strife,  which  I  knew  to  have  existed  in  the  one  referred  to 
at  home." 

"  In  the  evening,  Mr.  Brandram,  Mr.  Cater,  and  two  or 
three  other  gentlemen,  with  myself,  dmed  by  invitation  at 
the  seat  of  Mr.  Inglis.  The  situation  is  beautiful,  the  man- 
sion spacious  and  elegant,  the  furniture  in  the  first  fashion, 
the  grounds  finely  improved,  and  the  whole  establishment 
excelled  by  few  in  the  coimtry.  It  may  be  supposed  that 
the  entertainment  was  in  correspondence  with  the  place. 
It  was  indeed  far  too  sumptuous.  Mr.  Inglis  had  been  taken 
ill  the  day  before,  and  was  unable  either  to  attend  the  meet- 
ing, or  to  join  us  at  dinner  ;  but  his  partner,  a  lady  of  veiy 
affable  and  unassuming  manners,  manifested  a  great  desire 
for  the  happiness  of  his  guests,  which,  besides  those  already 
mentioned,  consisted  of  ten  ladies,  most  of  whom  had  at- 
tended the  meeting,  and  as  Mr.  Brandram  informed  me, 
were  decidedly  pious.  It  was  pleasant  to  find  the  conversa- 
tion taking  very  easily  a  rehgious  turn,  and  the  sentiments 
of  the  company  harmonizing  so  agreeably  on  the  several 
subjects  which  were  introduced. 

"  I  accompanied  Mr.  Brandram  to  his  house  at  Black- 


284  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

» 

heath,  four  miles  from  Bromley,  where  I  lodged  ;  and  in  the 
morning,  we  returned  to  London  in  the  Blackheath  coach." 

"  FniDAY,  April  23. — Went  out  and  dehvered  princi- 
pally such  sealed  letters  as  I  had  brought  with  me  from 
New  York." 

"  Saturday,  April  24. — I  was  employed  till  eleven  o'clock 
this  morning  in  business  connected  with  the  objects  of  my 
visit  to  England.  At  that  hour,  I  for  the  first  time  mounted 
the  top  of  a  coach,  and  proceeded  to  visit  my  friends  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Parker,  at  Woolwich.  On  our  arrival  we  received  a 
hearty  welcome.  They  proposed  to  me  a  walk  through  the 
grounds  enclosed  within  the  barracks.  Some  of  the  scenery 
is  very  pleasing,  being  in  sight  of  the  Thames,  on  which  a 
great  number  of  vessels  are  constantly  moA^ng,  and  the  build- 
ings and  walls  being  so  disposed  as,  united  with  a  stream  of 
water  here  formed  into  a  lake,  to  give  a  fme  eflect  to  the 
whole  landscape.  Within  this  enclosure  are  many  curious 
things — among  them,  an  immense  gun,  taken  from  one  of 
the  conquered  nabobs  in  India  ;  the  hearse,  brought  from  St. 
Helena,  on  which  Napoleon  was  conveyed  to  his  grave  ;  and 
various  trophies  of  victories  gahied  over  the  French  in  the 
last  war  of  Great  Britain  with  that  country.  On  the  plain, 
in  a  peculiarly  fine  situation,  stands  the  marquee  under  which 
the  Prince  Regent  gave  a  banquet  to  Alexander,  Emperor  of 
Russia,  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  etc.,  when  on  their  visit  to 
England.  It  was  removed  to  this  place  from  the  grounds  in 
the  rear  of  the  palace  of  St.  James',  London,  where  the  enter- 
tainment was  given  ;  and,  having  had  its  sides  enclosed, 
forms  a  large  and  beautiful  circular  room  for  models  of  mili- 
tary implements,  curious  armor,  etc.  There  was  not  time 
to  visit  half  the  curiosities  of  this  canvas-covered  room  ;  for 
such  is  the  material  of  which  its  roof  is  composed.  This 
apparently  slight  structure  is  rendered  entirely  impervious  to 
the  rain,  and  beautifully  ornamented  within  by  ribs  of  heavy 
gilded  cord.  On  my  return  to  London,  I  found  I  had  been 
called  upon  by  the  secretary  of  the  Wesleyan  Missionary 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  285 

Society,  and  tlie  secretary  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Seamen 
and  Soldiers'  Friend  Society  ;  who  had  severally  left  docu- 
ments of  their  respective  institutions. 

"  Sunday,  April  25, — This  morning,  when  I  awoke,  the 
sun  shone  brilliantly  into  my  chamber,  and  my  heart  was  at 
once  raised  to  my  heavenly  Protector  in  thanksgiving  for  the 
sweet  refreshment  which  I  felt  from  my  night's  repose,  and 
for  his  mercy  in  sparing  me  to  awake  in  health  to  the  light 
of  my  second  Sabbath  in  England,  and  my  first  in  this  great 
city  ;  with  earnest  entreaty  that  I  may  be  enabled  suitably 
to  improve  its  privileges,  and  that  it  may  be  made  a  day  of 
special  blessing  to  my  dear  people  of  St.  George's. 

"11,  A.  M. — Attended  the  church  of  St.  Mary-le-bow, 
commonly  called  the  Bow  church,  Cheapside,  where  the 
anniversary  sermon  for  the  benefit  of '  The  City  of  London 
National  Schools,'  was  preached  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Charles 
James  Blomfield,  bishop  of  London.  The  lord-mayor,  a  ven- 
erable-looking old  gentleman,  very  much  resembling  Col. 
Fish,  of  New  York,  with  the  recorder,  the  two  sherifls,  etc., 
etc.,  attended  in  full  costume.  The  bishop  is  a  pleasing,  but 
not  very  forcible  preacher.  He  uses  no  action  whatever, 
but  his  enunciation  is  very  clear  and  correct,  his  manner 
solemn,  and  his  whole  delivery  without  the  least  ostentation. 
His  sermon  was  without  division,  destitute  of  all  figure,  plain, 
practical,  and  evangehcal. 

"  In  the  afternoon,  I  went  to  St.  Stephen's,  Wallbrook, 
and  heard  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brandram  preach  in  this  beautiful 
church  to  a  congregation  of  not  more  than  a  hundred  persons 
besides  Sunday-school  children.  A  principal  cause  of  this 
smallness  of  the  congregation,  is  the  situation  of  the  church 
in  a  parish,  filled  with  merchants'  counting  and  ware  houses, 
whose  residences  are  generally  in  the  country.  The  church 
is  one  of  the  works  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  and  is  said  to  be 
his  masterpiece. 

"At  half  past  6,  I  went  to  the  evening  services  of  the 
church  of  St.  Bride's,  Fleet-street,  another  of  the  works  of 


286  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

the  same  arcliitect.  All  the  pews  and  aisles  were  filled  with 
a  congregation  attracted  by  the  preaching  of  the  evening 
lecturer,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Denharn,  a  young  man  of  great  piety 
and  very  engaging  elocution,  who  was  appointed  to  the  office 
by  the  present  bishop  of  London.  His  lordship,  since  his 
accession  to  the  see,  has  done  essential  service  to  the  cause 
of  evangelical  piety  in  the  city,  by  bestowing  three  lecture- 
ships upon  able,  spiritual  young  mhiisters.  Mr.  Denham's 
tones  and  cadences  are  very  pleasing  ;  his  diction  little  orna- 
mented, but  perspicuous  and  impressive ;  and  his  thoughts 
those  of  a  mind  apparently  holdmg  habitual  intercourse  with 
heaven.  More  energy  and  warmth  in  the  delivery  of  his 
sermons  would,  I  think,  be  looked  for  in  our  country,  m  order 
to  give  a  preacher  so  large  a  measure  of  popularity  as  Mr. 
Denham  here  enjoys. 

"  This  has  been  the  first  day  entirely  without  rain  since 
my  arrival  in  England." 

"  Monday,  April  26. — Arose  before  5  o'clock.  An  old 
drone  of  a  watchman  is  crying  the  hour  under  my  wdndow, 
while  I  am  shaving,  by  the  light,  not  of  a  candle,  but  of  the 
broad  day." 

"  Passed  a  portion  of  the  morning  in  reading  and  writing  ; 
and  then  employed  myself  in  delivering  sealed  packages  and 
letters  committed  to  my  charge.  "Was  able  this  morning  to 
complete  the  delivery  of  all  the  communications  brought  with 
rae  for  public  institutions.  I  attended  at  noon  the  stated 
meeting  of  the  committee  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society.  I  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Brandram,  and  received 
in  the  most  cordial  and  aflectionate  manner.  I  made  a  com- 
munication of  the  objects  of  my  mission ;  my  credentials 
were  then  read  ;  and  after  some  remarks  from  Mr.  J.  "Wilson, 
chairman  pro  tern.,  expressive  of  the  feelings  of  the  com- 
mittee at  this  mark  of  aflection  and  respect  from  the  Amer- 
ican society,  they  proceeded  to  the  reading  and  consideration 
of  their  annual  report.  I  remained  till  near  two  o'clock, 
when  I  was  conducted  to  the  stated  meeting  of  the  com- 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  287 

mittee  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society  in  SaHshury-square, 
by  whom  I  was  very  kindly  received.  AYith  this  committee, 
who  were  also  occupied  on  their  annual  report,  I  remained 
until  the  close  of  their  session. 

"At  5  o'clock  I  dined,  by  invitation,  with  Counsellor 
Marriot,  dueen's- square,  Bloomsbury,  who  was  and  still  is 
one  of  Bishop  Chase's  warmest  English  friends,  and  one  of 
the  trustees  of  the  fund  raised  in  this  country  for  the  benefit 
of  Kenyon  College,  Ohio.  The  college,  and  the  interests  of 
religion  and  learning  in  the  western  parts  of  the  United 
States,  formed  prominent  subjects  of  conversation.  Among 
other  topics,  however,  Mr.  Marriot  himself  introduced  that 
of  temperance  ;  with  the  measures  for  promoting  which  im- 
portant object  he  was  considerably  acquainted.  He  thought 
them  very  intimately  connected  with  the  well-being  of  soci- 
ety, not  merely  through  the  moral  reformation  at  which  they 
immediately  aim,  but  through  the  increased  influence  of  true 
religion,  which  they  promote  by  the  removal  of  one  of  the 
principal  hinderances  to  its  advancement.  On  my  mention- 
ing that  I  had  found  the  subject  in  some  instances,  since  my 
arrival  in  England,  rather  coldly  received  even  by  serious 
people,  I  was  pleased  to  learn  from  Mr.  Heap,  that  a  society 
had  actually  been  formed  in  his  neighborhood  at  Bradford, 
under  encouraging  auspices ;  and  that  already,  under  the 
influence  of  its  proceedings,  they  were  enabled  to  rejoice  in 
the  apparent  reformation  of  several  habitual  drunkards. 

"Tuesday,  April  27. — At  8  o'clock  this  morning,  I 
attended  by  invitation  the  w^eekly  meeting  of  the  committee 
of  *  The  Religious  Tract  Society '  in  Paternoster-row,  and 
breakfasted  with  them.  At  the  request  of  the  chairman,  I 
offered  prayer ;  after  which  a  blessing  was  asked,  and  busi- 
ness immediately  proceeded  simultaneously  with  their  simple 
meal,  consisting  of  a  cup  of  black  tea  only,  with  bread  and 
butter.  I  communicated  to  the  committee  the  resolutions  of 
the  American  Tract  Society  appointing  me  their  delegate  to 
London  ;  and  made  a  short  address  on  the  subject.     Nothing 


288  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOE. 

could  be  more  satisfactory  than  the  manner  in  which  these 
were  received,  or  more  kind  than  the  expressions  of  the 
chairman  and  of  several  of  the  members  of  this  respectable 
board. 

*'  At  11  o'clock,  I  went  to  St.  Bartholomew's  church, 
near  the  Exchange,  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  the  stated 
weekly  lecture  of  an  aged  minister,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wilkinson, 
who  has  preached  this  Tuesday  morning  lecture  for  the  last 
twenty-seven  years.  He  is  a  man  of  small  stature,  of  very 
venerable  appearance,  and  near  eighty  years  of  age.  His 
voice  is  rather  weak;  but  the  deep  silence  observed  by  a 
crowded  congregation  during  the  delivery  of  his  sermon, 
enabled  me,  though  seated  near  the  entrance  of  the  church, 
to  hear  him  distinctly.  He  read  his  text  from  a  small  Bible, 
and  without  spectacles  ;  and  preached  with  great  vivacity  of 
manner  for  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  and  entirely  without 
notes.  The  sermon  was  for  the  benefit  of  the  charity-school 
of  the  parish,  in  which  are  instructed  fifty  boys  and  thirty 
girls.  These  are  clothed,  and  furnished  with  books ;  taught 
the  elements  of  English,  with  needlework,  etc.,  to  the  girls  ; 
and  when  of  proper  age,  bound  apprentices  to  trades  or  to 
service.  A  handbill  stated  that  between  two  and  three 
thousand  children  had  received  the  benefit  of  this  charity. 
The  pupils  sat  in  the  capacious  chancel  of  the  church  ;  were 
very  clean,  and  neat,  and  healthful  in  their  appearance  ;  and 
sang  very  SAveetly  an  appropriate  hymn." 

"  Mr.  Wilkinson  is  a  very  thorough-going  Calvi??ist.  He 
is,  I  am  told,  one  of  the  few  remaining  pupils  of  old  Mr. 
Komaine,  who,  in  the  early  part  of  his  ministry,  was  said  to 
be  the  only  living  and  avowedly  Calvinistic  minister  in  the 
Church  of  England.  It  would  seem  that  many  of  its  pres- 
ent members  in  London  do  not  disrelish  the  system  of  the 
Genevan  reformer ;  for  not  only  were  all  the  pews  of  St. 
Bartholomew's  to-day  completely  filled,  but  the  aisles  also 
were  crowded  ;  and  I  understand  this  is  constantly  the  case, 
though  the  church  stands  in  the  very  throng  of  bushiess,  and 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  289 

the  liours  of  service  are  those  of  its  greatest  press.  The 
occupants  of  the  pews  were  of  very  respectable  appearance  ; 
those  in  the  aisles,  of  the  poorer  class  ;  and  the  whole  exhib- 
ited the  aspect  of  great  seriousness  and  devotion. 

"  At  the  close  of  the  service,  I  conversed  with  Mr.  Poyn- 
der,  one  of  the  committee  of  the  Bible  Society,  and  an  emi- 
nent solicitor,  who  told  me  that,  whenever  it  was  possible 
for  him  to  leave  his  business,  he  did  not  fail  to  be  one  of  Mr. 
Wilkinson's  hearers  at  this  lecture ;  and  that  he  always  found 
Hmself  edified  and  comforted  by  his  instructions." 

Having  been  waited  on  "  by  two  of  the  secretaries  of  the 
Wesley  an  Missionary  Society,"  with  a  request  from  their 
committee  that  he  would  make  one  of  the  addresses  at  their 
anniversary  on  the  Monday  following,  and  also  breakfast 
with  the  committee  at  the  Mission  house,  Hatton  Garden, 
on  Friday ;  he  "  spent  the  remainder  of  the  evening  in 
making  some  preparation  for  his  expected  engagements  next 
week." 

He  spent  the  next  day  in  business  engagements  at  his 
lodgings,  and  at  the  Bible  Society's  house ;  in  visiting  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Charles  Wilks,  editor  of  the  Christian  Observer; 
and  in  dining  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Woodruffe,  of  Cumberland 
Terrace,  Regent's  Park.  In  speaking  of  the  dinner  at  Mr. 
WoodrufTe's,  he  characterizes  the  hostess  as  "  a  pious  woman 
of  fine  mind,"  who,  "in  the  course  of  some  religious  discus- 
sion, displayed  much  acquaintance  with  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures, and  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  doctrines  of  Christi- 
anity." He  adds,  "  After  tea,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Woodruffe,  I  read  and  expounded  a  portion  of  Scripture,  and 
prayed  ;  the  servants  of  the  family  being  first  called  into  the 
dining-room."  This  mode  of  closing  social  entertainments 
presents  a  feature  in  the  highest  religious  circles  of  England, 
^vhich  is  almost  as  common  as  it  is  interesting.  Society  in 
this  country  is  highly  imitative  of  that  in  Europe,  but  un- 
happily we  copy  its  worst,  more  frequently  than  its  best 
peculiarities. 

Mem.  Milnor.  1  3" 


290  MEMOm  OF  DR.  MILNOH. 

The  next  day,  till  a  late  hour,  he  spent  in  business,  and 
closes  his  note  for  the  day  by  saying, 

"  I  was  surprised  to-day  by  the  receipt  of  a  letter  from 
my  dear  friend  and  brother,  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Mcllvaine,  of 
Brooklyn,  informing  me,  that  on  account  of  indisposition,  he 
was  to  sail  for  England  on  the  8th  of  the  present  month. 
While  I  lament  the  cause  that  brings  him  from  home,  I  shall 
rejoice  to  have  with  me  such  a  friend  and  coadjutor  in  my 
mission,  and  such  a  companion  in  my  travels.  I  shall  now 
be  looking  for  liim  daily.  The  Lord  send  him  safely  to  my 
embraces." 

Friday,  April  30. — At  breakfast  this  morning  at  the 
Methodist  Missionary  house,  Hatton-garden,  he  met  several 
of  the  leading  ministers  of  the  Methodist  church,  and  "  spent 
nearly  two  hours  very  agreeably  and  profitably  with  those 
intelligent  and  pious  m.en  ;"  durmg  which,  after  the  reading 
of  the  Scriptures  by  one  of  the  company,  and  prayer  by  him' 
self,  "  an  interesting  conversation  ensued,  in  which  many 
inquiries  were  made  respecting  the  state  of  religion  in  the 
United  States,  especially  in  regard  to  the  progress  of  Popery 
and  of  Unitarianism,  of  which,"  he  adds,  "I  think  they  had 
received  exaggerated  accounts." 

After  breakfast,  he  "  attended  the  stated  meeting  of  the 
committee  of  the  Prayer-book  and  Homily  Society.  The 
committee,"  he  says,  "  received  me  with  great  respect  and 
kindness.  Mr.  Pritchett,  secretary  of  the  Society,  then  went 
with  me  to  Freemasons'  Hall,  where  the  Irish  Society  of 
London  were  holding  their  anniversary.  The  object  of  this 
society  is  the  education  of  the  L'ish  through  the  medium  of 
their  own  language. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  Dr.  Ryder,  was 
in  the  chair,  supported  by  the  Bishop  of  Chester  and  by  Lord 
Harrowby.  I  staid  until  I  had  heard  two  long  and  impas- 
sioned speeches  from  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Daly  and  Beamish, 
two  of  the  clergy  of  the  established  church  in  Ireland. 

"  In  the  evening  I  went  to  Poultry  chapel,  Cheapside,  to 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  291 

hear  an  anniversary  sermon  for  the  Hibernian  Society  for 
establishing  schools  and  circulating  the  holy  Scriptures  in 
Ireland.  The  society  supports  at  present  950  day-schools 
and  400  Sunday-schools,  containing  together  upwards  of 
76,000  scholars,  at  an  expense  each  of  about  three  shillings 
sterling  per  annum.  It  distributed  last  year  22,966  Bibles 
and  Testaments  ;  and,  since  its  institution  in  1806,  has  cir- 
culated 230,000.  It  also  employed  67  persons  as  scripture 
readers.  With  such  claims  to  public  patronage,  I  was  sur- 
prised to  see  a  very  thin  congregation." 

The  next  day,  Saturday,  May  1,  Dr.  Milnor  spent  in 
sight-seeing ;  but,  as  he  indulged  sparingly  in  this  amuse- 
ment, and  gave  but  slight  accounts  of  what  he  saw,  his 
record  for  the  day  may  be  omitted,  saving  its  concluding 
paragraph  :  "  Spent  the  evening  in  the  retirement  of  my 
little  parlor,  in  duties  preparatory  to  those  of  the  sanctuary 
to-morrow." 


SECTION  II. 

We  now  come  to  the  week  of  the  principal  anniversaries 
in  London  ;  and  will  give  a  condensed  outline  of  the  engage 
ments  which  it  brought  upon  Dr.  Milnor.  He  had  already 
attended  the  preparatory  meetings  of  the  committees  of  all 
the  leading  societies,  and  was  favorably  known  to  most  of 
the  actors  in  the  stirring  scenes  on  which  he  was  about  to 
enter :  scenes  in  which  are  brought  together  larger  and 
denser  masses  of  Christian  life,  where  is  felt  a  more  vitally 
organized  and  intensely  beating  heart  of  Christian  faith  and 
feeling,  and  whence  are  sent  forth  more  powerful  and  far- 
reaching  pulsations  of  Christian  benevolence  and  activity, 
than  are  to  be  found  elsewhere  within  the  sphere  of  evangel- 
ical operations. 

The  first  anniversary,  Monday,  May  3,  was  that  of  the 


292  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

VYesleyan  Missionary  Society.  "  The  Rt.  Hon,  the  Earl  of 
Mountcashel  presided.  As  I  went  to  the  vestry-room," 
fays  Dr.  Milnor,  "  half  an  hour  before  the  commencement  of 
the  exercises,  and  his  lordship  arrived  soon  after,  I  was  intro- 
duced to  him,  and  was  much  pleased  with  the  pious  charac- 
ter of  his  conversation.  He  was  plainly  dressed,  with  no 
decoration  to  distinguish  him  from  a  commoner.  His  man- 
ner was  perfectly  friendly  and  familiar,  and  his  sentiments 
those  of  an  experimental  Christian.  In  the  course  of"  the 
conversation,  he  spoke  of  a  motion  wliich  he  intended  to  bring 
forward  to-morrow  in  the  House  of  Lords,  of  which  he  had 
given  notice,  for  an  inquiry  into  the  income  of  the  bishops. 
He  stated  that  his  object  was,  not  the  abduction  of  any  part 
of  its  property  from  the  church,  but  the  ascertainment  of  the 
actual  revenues  of  the  bishops,  with  which  none  but  them 
selves  were  acquainted  ;  and,  where  the  amount  was  unrea- 
sonably large,  its  reduction  to  a  more  moderate  but  still  gen- 
erous support ;  the  surplus  to  be  appropriated  to  the  increase 
of  the  salaries  of  the  poorly  provided,  hard-working  clergy. 
He  seemed  not  to  expect  present  success,  but  hoped  to 
awaken  parliamentary  attention  to  the  subject,  and  event- 
ually to  get  something  done.  He  expected  opposition  both 
from  the  bishops  and  from  the  radicals  :  from  the  bishops, 
because  they  wanted  nothing  done,  and  from  the  radicals, 
because  they  wished  to  do  more  than  he  proposed." 

When  the  hour  for  the  exercises  arrived,  he  "  opened  the 
meeting  with  an  address  of  a  very  catholic  spirit,  and  evin- 
cive of  a  mind  imbued  with  much  spiritual  feeling.  His 
manner  was  by  no  means  graceful,  and  his  utterance  very 
hesitating ;  yet  his  sentiments  were  so  entirely  consonant 
with  the  object  of  the  meeting,  and  the  whole  address  so 
replete  with  frank  and  unafiected  Christian  kindness,  that  it 
was  followed  by  a  universal  burst  of  applause." 

After  a  glowing  account  of  the  various  speeches  delivered 
on  the  occasion,  and  a  very  modest  allusion  to  his  own,  he 
thus  concludes  his  narrative  for  the  day  : 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  '^93 

"  I  was  never  present  at  so  animated  a  public  meeting 
But  the  cries  of  '  hear  him,  hear  him,'  jjie  clapping  of  hands.. 
and  knocking  of  the  floor  with  umbrellas  and  canes,  within 
a  place  of  worship,  sounded  rather  oddly  to  ears  unaccustom- 
ei  to  such  expressions  of  feeling. 

"  At  the  close  of  the  meeting,  I  went  to  dine  with  Mr. 
Haslope,  treasurer  of  the  society,  at  Highbury  Lodge,  Islmg- 
ton.  His  residence  is  in  the  most  beautiful  part  of  the  environs 
of  London  which  I  have  yet  seen.  His  lodge,  as  it  is  termed, 
is  a  spacious  three- story  house,  of  four  rooms  on  a  floor,  situ- 
ated within  an  enclosure  of  eight  or  ten  acres,  with  gardens, 
lawns,  hot-house,  etc.  The  arrangements  of  the  house  and 
table,  and  the  dress  of  the  females  of  the  family,  are  some- 
what beyond  the  style  common  among  the  members  of  the 
Methodist  society  in  America.  Mr,  Haslope,  however,  bears 
an  excellent  religious  character,  and  his  family  attend  in  part 
the  established  church,  having  accommodations  in  the  parish 
church  of  Islington,  of  which  that  distinguished  minister,  the 
Rev,  Daniel  Wilson,  is  vicar. 

"  Tuesday,  May  4. — Attended  the  anniversary  of  '  The 
Church  Missionary  Society,'  at  Freemasons'  Hall.  It  was 
full  to  overflowing  ;  and  the  assemblage  of  ladies  and  gentle- 
men presented  a  very  imposing  appearance.  The  Rt.  Hon. 
Lord  Gambler  in  the  chair. 

"  His  lordship  opened  the  meeting  with  a  short  address, 
and  then  read  from  the  Bible  one  of  the  psalms,  as  peculiarly 
expressive  of  the  feehngs  of  gratitude  which  should  now 
animate  every  heart.  Mr,  Bickersteth  followed  by  offering 
a  prayer,  copies  of  which  had  been  distributed  through  the 
meeting." 

Various  resolutions  were,  as  usual,  offered  and  seconded. 
Dr,  Milnor's  speech  was  in  seconding  the  resolution  offered 
by  the  Bishop  of  Winchester.  The  following  is  his  modest 
allusion  to  it : 

"  I  was  honored  with  an  invitation  to  second  the  resolu- 
tion.    My  reception  was  mimeritedly  kind ;  and  though  I  so 


294  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

far  transgressed  as  to  extend  my  remarks  to  three-quarters 
of  an  hour,  yet  I  was  constantly  encouraged  to  proceed  ;  and 
when  I  concluded  with  an  apology  for  their  length,  it  was 
answered  by  a  cry,  *  No,  no,  not  too  long,'  and  an  alarming 
volley  of  applause.  I  received  it  as  a  strong  evidence  of 
English  courtesy  towards  a  stranger,  and  of  respect  towards 
the  country  from  which  I  came." 

At  the  close  of  this  day's  account,  he  remarks,  "  This 
was  to  me  a  very  interesting  meeting.  I  confess  I  liked  the 
sober  dignity  and  comparative  silence  by  which  it  was  char- 
acterized, better  than  the  more  violent  expression  of  feeling 
witnessed  yesterday." 

We  may  judge  of  the  deep  interest  of  the  meeting  by  the 
feeling  which,  even  at  this  later  day,  arises  in  the  mind  at 
the  mention  of  the  great  fact  in  the  history  of  English  mis- 
sions, referred  to  in  the  following  paragraphs  of  Dr.  Milnor's 
account :  a  fact  then  for  the  first  time  proclaimed,  with  all 
its  newly  thrilling  power,  in  the  ear  of  Christian  England. 

The  Bishop  of  Chester  "  was  followed  by  Thos.  Fowell 
Buxton,  Esq.,  M.  P.,  a  large,  fine-looking  man,  of  command- 
ing eloquence.  The  recent  abolition  of  the  Suttee,  or 
burning  of  widows  in  India,  formed  a  principal  topic  of  his 
speech  ;  in  the  course  of  which  he  paid  a  comphment  to  Mr. 
Solicitor  Poynder,  as  a  chief  instrument  in  effecting  that 
humane  and  excellent  measure,  for  which  the  labors  of  mis- 
sionaries had  previously  prepared  the  way.  It  was,  he  said, 
Mr.  Poynder' s  persevering  and  able  exertions  with  the  Board 
of  Directors  (of  the  East  India  Company,)  that  led  to  the 
final  abolition  of  a  practice  so  abominable  as  to  have  been  an 
increasing  disgrace  to  the  government  which  allowed  it,  every 
day  that  its  existence  had  continued. 

"  As  soon  as  Mr.  Buxton  sat  down,  Mr.  Poynder  arose 
for  the  purpose,  he  said,  of  disclaiming  all  personal  merit  in 
the  pleasing  transaction  referred  to,  and  of  making  a  public 
acknowledgment  to  Almighty  God  for  the  support  of  his 
Holy  Spirit,  in  the  discharge  of  an  incumbent  duty  ;  and  he 


MISSION   TO  ENOLAND.  295 

called  upon  all  present  to  give  glory  to  God  for  the  singular 
and  unexpected  success  with  which  that  discharge  of  duty- 
had  been  attended." 

After  the  exercises  of  the  day,  he  went,  at  six  o'clock,  to 
dine  with  Mr.  Solicitor  Forster,  at  his  house,  Cumberland 
Terrace,  Regent's  Park.  "  The  evening,"  he  says,  "  was 
passed  very  agreeably,  the  conversation  being  entirely  of  a 
religious  character,  and  the  ladies  sustaining  their  part  in  it 
in  a  way  alike  evincive  of  deep  interest  in  the  various  topics 
which  it  embraced,  and  of  much  acquaintance  with  them. 
I  like  exceedingly  the  practice  which  I  find  prevalent  at  these 
late  dinners,  of  the  gentlemen,  soon  after  the  retirement  of 
the  ladies,  leaving  the  dinner-table  for  the  drawing-room  ; 
and  still  more,  that  of  closing  the  evening,  before  the  separa- 
tion of  the  company,  by  religious  exercises." 

We  reach  now  the  most  important  of  the  great  London 
anniversaries,  to  attend  which  had  been  the  moving-spring 
of  Dr.  Milnor's  mission  to  England ;  we  therefore  give  his 
account  of  it  entire. 

"  Wednesday,  May  5. — This  day  was  held  the  anniver- 
sary of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  in  Freema- 
sons' Hall, 

"No  ladies  are  admitted  at  this  meeting.  The  room 
was  exceedingly  crowded  with  gentlemen,  including  a  very 
large  body  of  clergy,  with  many  noblemen  and  persons  of 
distinction  in  society.  The  president,  Lord  Teignmouth, 
was  prevented  by  indisposition  from  attending.  Lord  Bex- 
ley  occupied  his  place,  and  opened  the  meeting  with  a  short 
address,  in  which  he  felicitated  the  meeting  on  the  continued 
prosperity  of  this  great  institution,  and  on  the  spiritual  bless- 
ings which  it  was  shedding  on  the  world. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Winchester  moved  the  adoption  of  the 
report,  after  an  abstract  of  it  had  been  read  by  the  secretary, 
Mr.  Brandram.  He  spoke  about  ten  minutes,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  Lord  Calthorpe  for  about  the  same  space  of  time. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Chester  moved  the  second  resolution. 


296  MEMOIE.  OF  DH.  MILNOR. 

His  address  occupied  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  was  seconded 
by  Mr.  Wiiberforce,  in  a  speech  of  great  interest,  delivered 
with  as  much  animation  as  his  wasted  frame  and  now  feeble 
voice  would  admit. 

"  I  was  then  introduced  to  the  meeting  as  a  delegate 
from  the  American  Bible  Society,  and  was  received  with 
greetings  of  a  kind  that  almost  overpowered  me.  I  made 
my  communication,  however,  as  well  as  I  could,  in  an  ad- 
dress of  thirty-five  minutes ;  and  had  reason  to  be  very 
grateful  for  the  afiectionate  manner  in  which  it  was  received, 
and  for  the  many  kind  notices  of  the  society  which  I  repre- 
sented, and  of  our  beloved  country,  which  several  of  the 
subsequent  speakers  took  occasion  to  introduce.  The  prev- 
alent sentiment  seemed  to  be,  that  a  friendly  communication 
and  harmonious  cooperation  between  the  great  national  relig- 
ious institutions  of  the  two  countries,  besides  the  effect  upon 
their  immediate  objects,  would  have  a  most  salutary  influ- 
ence in  preserving  that  friendship,  which  it  was  so  much 
the  political  as  well  as  the  moral  interest  of  both  to  preserve 
and  cherish. 

"  The  Hon.  Charles  Grant,  M.  P.,  whose  standing  in  the 
national  legislature  is  of  the  highest  order,  and  whose  pat- 
ronage of  religious  institutions  has  been  so  able  and  long 
continued,  seconded  the  motion  of  thanks  to  Lord  Teign- 
mouth,  with  which  I  had  been  charged.  He  is  a  charming 
speaker,  and  merits  my  grateful  acknowledgments  for  the 
obliging  manner  in  which  he  adverted  to  my  mission. 

"  The  Rev.  Daniel  Wilson,  who  had  been  to  Paris  and 
attended  the  anniversary  of  '  The  Protestant  Bible  Society,' 
gave  an  account  of  the  meeting,  and  of  the  state  of  religion 
in  France. 

"  The  Hon.  Charles  G.  Shore,  son  of  Lord  Teignmouth, 
in  a  short  address,  acknowledged  the  society's  vote  of  thanks 
to  his  venerable  father. 

"  The  Rev.  Mr.  Dixon,  a  Wesleyan  Methodist  minister 
from  Ireland,  next  addressed  the  meeting  in  a  speech  of  sin- 


MISSION   TO  EN&LAND.  297 

gular  vehemence  of  manner  and  of  great  originality  and 
point.  w 

"  I  should  have  mentioned,  that  after  Mr.  Grant,  that 
aged  minister  of  Christ,  Rowland  Hill,  who,  if  he  has  been 
noted  for  singularity,  will  be  remembered  and  respected  by 
posterity  for  his  long-continued  and  useful  services  to  religion, 
made  what  he  expected  would  be  his  last  speech  before  this 
society.  It  partook  of  the  peculiar  manner  by  which  his 
public  communications  have  been  distinguished,  and  was 
received  with  great  applause. 

"  The  treasurer,  Mr.  Thornton  ;  the  Dean  of  Salisbury; 
Mr.  Newman,  a  lay  gentleman  from  Ireland ;  and  Sir  Thomas 
Bloomfield,  each  made  a  short  address.  The  motion  of  the 
last  was  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Lord  Bexley,  wliich  was  sup- 
ported by  an  address  from  the  Bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Cov- 
entry. The  latter  had  been  prevented  by  indisposition  from 
coming  to  the  meeting  till  near  its  close.  With  scarcely  an 
exception,  the  whole  audience  remained  without  the  least 
evidence  of  impatience,  until  it  broke  up,  near  five  o'clock, 
P.M. 

"  Lord  Bexley,  in  acknowledging  the  vote  of  thanks  to 
himself,  just  before  the  meeting  was  dismissed,  referred,  in 
a  manner  exceedingly  respectful  and  kind,  to  America,  to  its 
Bible  Society,  and  to  my  mission  and  address.  Immediately 
afterwards,  he  approached  me  with  eagerness,  seize'ci  my 
hand,  and  observing  that  he  needed  no  introduction,  for  my 
address  had  made  us  friends  already,  invited  me  to  dine  with 
him  on  Wednesday  next.  I  was  then  introduced  to  each  of 
the  bishops  who  had  been  speakers  on  the  occasion,  and  to 
a  large  number  of  clergy  and  laity ;  and  amid  a  hundred 
Enghsh  hands  stretched  out  to  greet  me  as  a  visitor  to  their 
country,  I  felt  deeply  thankful  for  the  favor  which  the  cause 
I  came  to  advocate  procured  me.  Never  will  the  scenes  of 
this  day  fade  from  my  memory. 

"  At  half  past  six,  dined  with  Mr.  Wilhams,  M.  P.  for 
the  county  of  Devon,  where  he  has  a  splendid  seat.     He  is 

13* 


298  MEMOIK,  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

a  banker,  and  his  town  residence  is  one  of  the  most  elegant 
in  Grosvenor-square,  and  the  most  richly  embellished  and 
furnished  of  any  house  which  I  have  entered  since  my  arrival 
in  London.  There  were  eight  liveried  servants  in  attendance 
on  a  dinner-party,  which  consisted  of  about  twenty,  one-half 
at  least  ladies.  In  this  respect,  I  observe  a  difference  be- 
tween New  York  and  London ;  the  females,  on  such  an  oc- 
casion as  this,  bearing  a  much  greater  proportion  to  the 
gentlemen,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Mr.  and  Mrs,  Will- 
iams are  professors  of  religion  in  the  established  church ; 
and  Mrs.  Williams  bears  the  character  of  a  deeply  spiritual 
Christian,  to  whom  a  less  splendid  style  of  living  would  be 
far  more  agreeable.  Her  manners  are  very  courteous,  though 
unassummg,  and  wholly  free  from  all  fashionable  afiectation 
and  the  company,  Mr.  Phillips  assured  me,  were  all  profess 
edly  pious.  The  only  clergymen  present,  besides  myself 
were  Mr.  Phillips,  and  Mr.  Grimshawe,  author  of  the  life  of 
the  lamented  Legh  Richmond,  with  whom  I  had  previously 
become  acquainted,  and  whose  character  and  conversation 
are  in  consonance  with  the  spirit  which  pervades  his  inter- 
esting memoir. 

"  The  conversation  at  dinner  slid  very  easily  into  a  rehg- 
ious  channel,  and  was  agreeably  maintained  during  the  even- 
ing. Soon  after  the  ladies  had  retired  to  the  drawing-room, 
we  were  invited  to  follow  them,  and  found  there  some  acces- 
sion to  their  number.  After  tea  and  coffee,  the  servants 
placed  on  a  large  circular  table  in  the  centre  of  the  room  a 
Bible  and  a  number  of  hymn-books,  sufficient  to  supply  the 
company.  A  hymn  was  then  sung,  accompanied  by  Miss 
Williams  on  the  piano  ;  after  which  Mr.  Phillips  read  a 
chapter,  expounded,  and  prayed.  This  w^as  a  pleasant  sequel 
to  the  enlivening  duties  of  the  day ;  and  if  I  retired  under 
gome  fatigue  of  body  to  my  rest — the  walk  to  my  lodgings 
being  long — it  was  with  a  grateful  sense  of  the  kindness 
shown  me  by  the  friends  of  religion,  to  whose  acquaintance 
this  visit  to  England  has  already  introduced  me,  and  with 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  299 

prayer  for  God's  continued  support  iii  the  duties  still  be- 
fore me." 

At  8  o'clock  on  Thursday  morning,  Dr.  Milnor  attended 
by  invitation  a  clerical  breakfast  in  Sackville-street,  in  one 
of  the  large  rooms  of  an  edifice  used  for  business  offices  by 
several  of  the  benevolent  societies.  Near  one  hundred  of 
the  clergy  of  the  established  church  were  present,  besides 
several  laymen  of  distinction :  Lord  Mount  Sandford,  Sir 
Thomas  Baring,  Col.  Phipps,  Capt.  Gambler,  and  others. 
The  breakfast  Avas  as  usual  a  plain  meal,  and  was  followed 
by  the  customary  religious  exercises,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Wilson 
presiding.  In  the  religious  exercises,  parts  were  borne  by 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Stewart  of  Liverpool,  the  Rev.  President,  the 
Dean  of  Salisbury,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Beamish,  and  Dr.  Milnor. 
"At  the  conclusion  of  this  very  solemn  and  interesting  ser- 
vice, the  hour  had  arrived  for  the  assembHng  of  two  anni- 
versary meetings :  that  of  '  The  Religious  Tract  Society's 
General  Western  Meeting,'  and  that  of  '  The  Prayer-Book 
and  Homily  Society.'  " 

By  appomtment,  Dr.  Milnor  went  first  to  the  Tract  So- 
ciety's anniversary,  where  the  Marquis  of  Cholmondeley  pre- 
sided ;  and  where  the  exercises  partook  of  the  customary 
interest  of  the  occasion.  In  an  address  of  five  and  twenty 
minutes,  Dr.  Milnor  "endeavored  to  comply  with  an  intima- 
tion given  by  the  committee  of  this  society,  as  had  been  done 
by  most  of  the  others,  by  furnishmg  all  the  information  in 
his  power  as  to  the  operations,  and  their  results,  of  kindred 
institutions  in  the  United  States." 

"Soon  after  I  sat  down,"  he  proceeds,  "I  received  a 
message  from  the  committee  of  the  Prayer-Book  and  Homily 
Society,  urgently  requesting  my  attendance  at  Freemasons' 
Hall.  Accordingly,  I  stepped  into  a  coach,  which  they  had 
sent  for  me ;  and  on  my  arrival,  found  the  president.  Lord 
Bexley,  in  the  chair,  supported  by  the  Bishops  of  Chester 
and  Winchester,  and  several  pious  noblemen.  Several  speak- 
ers had  addressed  the  meeting  before  I  entered.     Captain 


300  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

Gambier  and  the  Rev.  Daniel  Wilson  spoke  immediately 
afterw^ards. 

"  I  was  then  called  up,  and  was  graciously  supported  in 
an  address,  in  a  great  degree  unpremeditated ;  wherein  I 
dwelt  on  the  value  of  the  liturgy  as  a  vehicle  of  devotion, 
and  as  a  bulwark  against  error ;  and  upon  the  homilies,  as 
an  admirable  illustration  of  the  evangehcal  doctrines  of  the 
articles  of  our  church.  I  noticed  also  the  attachment  of  the 
American  Episcopal  church  to  the  liturgy,  as  evinced  in  the 
recent  general  disapprobation  of  certain  alterations  which 
had  been  proposed ;  while  at  the  same  time  I  paid  the  re- 
spect justly  due  to  the  motives  of  the  very  distinguished 
prelate  with  whom  those  proposed  alterations  originated. 
The  Bishop  of  Winchester  was  pleased  to  express  himself 
very  kindly  towards  me  and  the  remarks  which  I  had  made ; 
and  supposing  ray  address  to  have  been  written  and  com- 
mitted to  memory,  he  afterwards  sent  me  a  message  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Raikes,  requesting  me  to  allow  of  its  separate 
publication  in  a  pamphlet  form,  which  I  verj^  respectfully 
declined." 

This  reference  to  his  address  before  the  Prayer-Book  and 
Homily  Society  is  important,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  unhappy  controversy  to  which  the  report  of 
his  remarks  led,  between  Bishop  Hobart  and  himself 

Dr.  Milnor  dined  to-day  with  Mr.  Bickerstetti,  at  Isling- 
ton, in  company  with  several  pious  and  literary  men.  Of 
his  host  and  some  of  the  guests  on  this  occasion,  he  thus 
writes  :  "  Mr.  Bickersteth,  who  has  rendered  such  essential 
service  to  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  is  about  resigning 
his  secretary-ship,  having  accepted  the  rectorship  of  the  par- 
ish of  Watton,  in  Hertfordshire.  He  is  one  of  the  most 
excellent  of  men,  uniting  respectable  talents  with  a  truly 
Christian  spirit.  It  is  only  necessary  to  knoAV  him  in  order 
to  admire  and  love  him.  Mr.  Pratt,  son  of  the  Rev.  Josiah 
Pratt,  is  curate  to  his  father,  a  modest  and  unassuming  young 
man,  of  disposition  and  feeling  entirely  in  harmony  with  those 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  301 

of  his  estimable  parent.  Mr.  F.  Cunningham,  brother  of  the 
author  of  The  Velvet  Cushion,  is  a  mj?,ji  of  talents,  and  one 
of  the  most  exemplary  ministers  of  the  establishment  in  the 
laborious  discharge  of  all  the  duties  of  his  station.  He  is 
among  those  whose  acquaintance  I  have  considered  one  of 
the  most  pleasing  gratifications  of  my  visit  to  London." 

On  Friday,  Dr.  Milnor's  engagements  were  at  another 
clerical  breakfast,  given  at  Freemasons'  Tavern,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Hawtrey  presiding  ;  at  the  anniversary  of  "  The  London 
Society  for  promoting  Christianity  among  the  Jews,"  Sir 
Tliomas  Baring  in  the  chair  ;  and  at  dinner  with  Mr.  Hatch- 
ard  the  bookseller,  a;t  Clapham.  The  evening  was  spent 
and  closed  in  the  usual  Christian  way ;  after  which  Dr. 
Milnor  went  with  his  friends  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gilliat,  and  spent 
the  night  at  their  house,  about  a  mile  from  Clapham. 

How  delightful  must  it  have  been,  after  so  many  days  of 
incessant  and  intense  mental  excitement  amid  the  crowded 
throngs  of  the  city,  to  awake,  as  he  did,  on  the  morning  of 
Saturday,  May  8,  between  five  and  six  o'clock,  and  find 
himself  in  the  sweet,  still  country,  with  "  the  weather  de- 
lightfully balmy  and  refreshing,  the  birds  gayly  carolling 
their  matins,  and  the  whole  landscape  covered  with  the 
greenest  verdure  of  spring."  "  I  took  a  walk,"  he  writes, 
"  through  Mr.  Gilliat's  beautiful  grounds ;  and  being  soon 
joined  by  him,  our  conversation  took  a  direction  in  conso- 
nance with  the  evidences  of  divine  beneficence  exhibited  in 
the  charming  scene  before  us,  I  found  Mr.  Gilliat's  senti- 
ments on  spiritual  subjects  such  as,  under  the  blessing  of 
God,  are  usually  produced  on  minds  having  the  advantage 
of  so  faithful  a  ministry  as  that  on  which  he  has  from  his 
youth  attended.  Our  conversation  was  reluctantly  ended 
by  the  announcement  of  breakfast ;  before  which,  however, 
I  read  and  commented  on  one  of  the  Psalms,  and  prayed 
with  the  assembled  family." 

Returning  to  the  city  after  breakfast,  he  learned  that  his 
friend  McHvaine  had  reached  London,  and  taken  lodgings  at 


302  MEMOIR  OF   DR.  MILNOR. 

the  same  hotel  with  himself.  But  as  his  friend  was  out  on 
a  morning  walk,  and  as  he  was  himself  under  an  engage- 
ment to  be  at  Blackheath,  six  miles  distant,  to  attend,  at 
12  o'clock,  the  anniversary  of  the  Branch  Bible  Society  of 
that  eastern  suburb,  he  was  compelled  to  defer,  till  his  re- 
turn, a  meeting  with  one  so  recently  from  home. 

At  the  Blackheath  anniversary,  Lord  Bexley  presided ; 
and  after  the  reading  of  the  report,  "  several  addresses  were 
delivered,"  among  which  was  one  by  Dr.  Milnor.  His  anx- 
iety to  see  his  friend  Mcllvaine  led  him  to  solicit  and  obtain 
a  release  from  an  engagement  to  spend  the  night  with  Dr. 
Parker  at  Woolwich,  and  the  Sabbath  following  with  Mr. 
Symonds,  at  Paul's-Cray.  He  was  therefore  soon  in  London 
again,  rejoicing  in  the  safe  arrival  of  his  friend,  and  in  the 
"  many  letters  of  a  cheering  character  from  family  and 
friends"  which  he  had  brought  from  home  ;  though  grieved 
to  find  the  health  of  that  friend  so  much  impaired  by  the 
complaint  which  induced  him  to  visit  England. 

"  Sunday,  May  9. — My  breakfast  this  morning  was  taken 
with  increased  thankfulness,  being  enlivened  by  the  company 
of  my  beloved  brother,  who  is,  blessed  be  God,  better  in 
health  than  he  was  last  night.  After  breakfast,  we  united 
in  rendering  praise  to  God  for  his  goodness,  and  in  suppli- 
cating his  continued  favor ;  and  just  before  going  to  public 
worship,  we  again  knelt  to  ask  a  blessing  on  the  duties  of 
the  day,  and  the  special  favor  of  Almighty  God  upon  our 
respective  families  and  congregations." 

They  attended  morning  service  at  St.  Stephen's,  Cole- 
man-street,  and  heard  a  charity  sermon  by  Dr.  Ryder, 
Bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry ;  and  evening  service  at 
the  venerable  church  of  St.  Arm's,  Blackfriars,  "  where 
Mr,  Romaine  so  long  endured  the  opprobrium  of  faithfully 
and  ably  teaching  and  enforcing,  as  the  si?ie  qua  non  of  a 
right  belief  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,"  that  very  doctrine 
of  justification  by  faith  which  formed  the  subject  of  this 
afternoon's  discourse.     Dr.  Milnor  remarks,  in  his  journal 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND,  303 

that  Mr.  Clemenson,  the  afternoon  lecturer,  "prayed  ex- 
temporaneously both  before  and  after  s^rmon." 

At  night  they  walked  to  "  St.  Martin's-in-the-Fields"— 
the  fields  having  now  become  a  wilderness  of  houses — 
where  they  heard  an  excellent  discourse  from  a  young  cler- 
gyman, the  Rev.  Mr.  Harnage,  who  was  evening  lecturer 
there  at  that  time.  And  then  "they  returned  home,  read 
together  a  portion  of  the  word  of  God,  prayed,  and  retired 
to  rest." 

So  ended  with  Dr.  Milnor  the  first  week  of  the  London 
anniversaries  for  the  year  1830  ;  a  week  which  brought 
him  into  personal  and  profitable  acquaintance  with  many 
of  the  noblest  citizens  of  Christ's  true  kingdom  upon  earth, 
and  set  the  buds  of  many  a  holy  friendship,  which  will  be 
blooming  and  fragrant  for  ever  amid  the  better  airs  of  that 
kingdom  in  heaven. 

During  the  week,  on  the  active  engagements  of  which 
he  now  entered,  he  attended  the  following  anniversaries  : 
that  of  "  The  Port  of  London  and  Bethel  Union  Society," 
Monday,  May  10,  the  Rt.  Hon.  Lord  Gambler  presiding ; 
that  of  "The  Sunday-school  Union"  on  Tuesday,  George 
Bennet,  Esq.,  in  the  chair;  that  of  "The  Naval  and  Mili- 
tary Bible  Society,"  the  same  day.  Lord  Lorton  in  the  chair  ; 
that  of  "The  London  Missionary  Society"  on  Thursday; 
that  of  "  The  Religious  Tract  Society"  on  Friday,  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Ersldne  presiding;  that  of  "The  Society  for  promoting 
the  principles  of  the  Reformation,"  the  same  day.  Lord  Vis- 
count Mandeville  m  the  chair ;  and  that  of  "  The  Anti- 
Slavery  Society"  on  Saturday,  Mr.  Wilberforce  in  the  chair. 
Dr.  Milnor  was  among  the  speakers  on  Monday,  before  the 
Port  of  London  and  Bethel  Union ;  on  Tuesday,  before  the 
Sunday-school  Union;  on  Thursday,  before  the  London 
Missionary  Society  ;  and  on  Friday  before  the  Society  for 
promoting  the  principles  of  the  Reformation.  During  the 
week,  he  also  attended  public  breakfasts,  accompanied  by 
religious   exercises,  on  Tuesday,  "Wednesday,   Friday,    and 


304  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILKOR. 

So-turday  ;  while  his  dinner  engagements  were  with  Mr. 
Purvis,  at  Nottingham  Place,  on  Monday ;  Hon.  and  Rev. 
B.  W.  Noel,  Waltharnstow,  on  Tuesday  ;  Lord  Bexley,  at 
his  city  residence,  on  Wednesday  ;  the  Bishop  of  Winches- 
ter, St.  James'  square,  on  Friday  ;  and  Mr.  Ewbank,  of 
Peckham,  on  Saturday. 

It  is  needless  to  follow  him  closely  through  these  numer- 
ous engagements,  so  similar  to  those  already  noticed.  A 
few  extracts  from  his  journal,  however,  may  furnish  an 
interesting  illustration  of  his  course  through  this  busy  week. 
Alluding  to  the  religious  exercises  with  which  he  was  called 
to  close  the  evening,  after  dinner  at  Mr.  Purvis',  he  says, 

"  This  manner  of  sanctifying  social  intercourse  is  both 
pleasing  and  profitable.  Although  I  would  always  prefer 
being  a  hearer,  yet  the  circumstance  of  my  being  a  stranger 
often  devolves  on  me  the  duty  of  conducting  these  religious 
exercises.  My  prayer  is,  that  my  unstudied  and  unpre- 
tending communications  may  be  accompanied  with  a  divine 
blessing ;  so  that,  while  unable  publicly  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel, I  may  be  an  instrument  of  some  good  in  this  more  pri- 
vate way." 

Of  the  anniversary  of  "  The  Naval  and  Military  Bible 
Society,"  he  writes,  "  This  was,  on  several  accounts,  one  of 
the  most  interesting  Bible  society  anniversaries  which  I 
have  attended.  It  is  a  much  older  institution  than  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  itself;  and  a  great  pro- 
portion of  its  supporters  are  naval  and  military  men. 

"  I  was  urgently  solicited  to  make  an  address  at  this  meet- 
ing ;  and  consented  to  do  so,  provided  my  friend  Mcllvaine 
did  not  previously  arrive.  In  case  of  his  seasonable  arrival, 
I  had  a  particular  desire  to  devolve  the  duty  on  him,  from 
the  circumstance  more  especially  of  his  having  held  a  pro- 
fessorship and  chaplaincy  at  the  military  academy  at  West 
Point.  I  was  happy  both  in  his  arrival,  and  in  his  being 
well  enough  to  speak.  In  his  address,  he  gave  an  account, 
as  far  as  was  suitable  for  the  occasion,  of  the  work  of  grace 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  305 

among  the  cadets  which  took  place  under  his  ministry  at 
West  Point  ;  and  the  efTect  of  his  solemn  and  interesting 
narrative  was  very  striking." 

The  Rev.  Baptist  W.  Noel  also  made  "  a  most  eloquent 
address.  A  fine  effect  was  produced  by  so  powerful  a  speech 
from  a  young  clergyman,  who  justly  enjoys  a  large  portion 
of  popular  favor,  and  possesses  talents  admirably  adapted  to 
such  a  duty.  Mr.  Noel  has  the  singular  felicity  of  having 
associated  with  him  in  Christian  feeling  four  brothers,  three 
of  whom  are  in  the  ministry,  and  the  fourth  an  officer  in 
the  navy,  who  made  one  of  the  previous  addresses." 

"  I  can  scarcely  conceive  of  a  more  interesting  spectacle 
than  that  of  so  large  a  body  of  gentlemen  of  the  army  and 
navy,  associated  with  so  much  zeal  in  the  benevolent  and 
pious  work  of  circulating  the  Bible  among  their  destitute  fel- 
low soldiers  and  seamen.  An  unusual  spirit  of  evangelical 
piety  distinguished  their  addresses.  No  faintheartedness  oi 
equivocation  was  manifested  in  the  avowal  of  their  religious 
sentiments.  Several  expressly  adverted  to  affecting  circum- 
stances in  their  own  religious  experience,  and  declared  their 
firm  adherence  to  their  beloved  Saviour,  and  their  determi- 
nation, through  evil  report  and  good  report,  to  live  to  his 
glory.  Every  speech  was  full  of  fervor  ;  and  several,  alike 
excellent  for  display  of  fine  talents,  and  a  manifestation  of 
ardent  piety.  That  of  Lieut.  Rhind  was  characterized  by 
a  flow  of  delightful  Christian  thought,  which  his  spirited 
delivery  sent  home  with  powerful  interest  to  every  heart." 

It  is  a  sign  of  the  importance  attached  to  the  array 
and  navy  in  Great  Britain,  that  at  this  anniversary,  "  notes 
were  read  from  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  and  from  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  apologizhig  for  unavoidable  ab- 
sence." 

Dr.  Milnor  and  his  brother  McTlvaine  "  were  much  grat- 
ified with  their  visit"  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Noel  at  "  his  charm- 
ing residence  at  Walthamstow,  seven  miles  from  London, 
where  they  dined  and  spent  the  night"  of  Tuesday.     Mr. 


306  MEMOm  OF  DR.  MILNOE.. 

Noel's  chiircli  in  London,  **  St.  John's  chapel,  Bedford- 
row,"  is  the  place  where  the  celebrated  Cecil  and  the 
present  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  Daniel  Wilson,  formerly  officia- 
ted. Alluding  to  Mr.  Noel's  residence  in  the  country,  Dr. 
Milnor  writes, 

*'  I  cannot  but  remark  on  the  very  inconvenient  arrange- 
ment to  which  so  many  London  clergymen  subject  them- 
selves, of  having  their  family  residences  in  the  country  at 
distances  from  three  to  ten  miles.  Mr.  Noel's  duties  call 
him  to  the  city  almost  every  day ;  and  yet  he  subjects  him- 
self to  the  trouble  and  loss  of  time  unavoidably  attendant 
on  the  arrangement,  and  that  throughout  the  whole  year. 
But  the  practice  is  more  objectionable  in  another  view,  and 
that  is,  its  injurious  effect  on  the  j)astoral  relation.  This 
I  found  to  be  a  frequent  complaint  among  the  laity.  AYhere 
they  are  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  public  services  of  their 
ministers,  they  charge  them  with  remissness  in  visiting,  and 
express  regret  that  they  have  so  little  religious  mtercourse 
with  their  pastors.  In  this  respect,  curates  are  less  cen- 
sured than  rectors  ;  but  it  certainly  is  one  of  the  evils  of  the 
establishment,  that  the  pastoral  office  is  so  feebly  sustained 
by  a  great  portion  of  its  clergy,  whose  independence  of  their 
congregations  allows  them  a  license  in  neglecting  their  flocks 
which  with  us  would  soon  lead  to  a  separation.  This  cen- 
sure, however,  by  no  means  attaches,  in  all  its  extent,  to 
those  ministers  whose  hearts  are  in  their  work;  though 
many  of  these  are  apt  to  depend  upon  their  assistants  for 
the  principal  performance  of  the  duty  in  question." 

The  public  "clerical  breakfast"  of  Wednesday  morning 
was  "given  by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Wilson,  at  the  vicarage"  of 
Islington,  to  "  a  party  of  about  thirty  clergj^men,  and  half 
that  number  of  ladies  ;"  and  the  religious  service  which  fol- 
lowed was  in  Mr.  Wilson's  "  study,"  "  a  spacious  room,  with 
an  uncommonly  lofty  ceiling,  and  having  its  walls  lined  with 
ranges  of  neatly  constructed  bookcases,  containing  a  library 
of  6,000  volumes."     The  repast  was  closed  by  Mr.  Wilson's 


missio:n  to  eng-land.  307 

"  giving  out  a  verse  of  thanksgiving,  which  was  sung  by 
the  company  standing.  He  then  proposM  that  they  should 
amuse  themselves  for  fifteen  minutes  in  his  garden — a  beau- 
tiful spot,  and  kept  in  the  neatest  order — and  reassemble  in 
his  study"  at  the  expiration  of  that  time. 

The  exercises  in  the  study  were  opened  with  prayer ; 
continued  in  the  discussion  of  certain  topics  suggested  by 
the  vicar,  "  with  intervals  for  prayer  and  private  medita- 
tion ;"  and  closed  as  they  opened — leaving  an  *'  impression 
on  the  minds  of  all,  that  their  coming  together  had  been  for 
the  better,  and  not  for  the  worse." 

Mr.  Wilson  "proposed,  as  the  first  topic"  for  discussion, 
"  The  best  means  of  obtaining  correct  views  of  the  7nind 
of  the  Spirit,  as  revealed  in  the  sacred  Scrijjtures  f  and, 
"  after  a  few  explanatory  remarks,"  called  on  Dr.  Milnor, 
*'  without  any  previous  notice,  to  give  his  views  upon  the 
subject."  "  In  the  presence  of  so  many  gentlemen  more 
competent  than  myself,"  he  remarks,  "  I  would  willingly 
have  been  excused  from  this  duty  ;  but  understanding  that 
it  was  not  usual,  at  meetings  such  as  this,  to  decline  any 
required  service,  I  proceeded  to  give  such  an  answer  to  the 
inquiry  as  I  was  enabled  to  do  on  so  sudden  a  request. 
Heading,  as  the  basis  of  my  remarks,  a  part  of  the  second 
chapter  of  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  I  suggested, 
and  in  an  address  of  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  a  little 
enlarged  upon  the  following  means  of  obtaining  the  pro- 
posed end : 

"  1.  A  competency  of  human  learning. 

"2.  A  renewed  heart. 

"3.  Close  and  patient  study,  *  comparing  spiritual  things 
with  spiritual.' 

"4.  Implicit  submission  of  our  imperfect  reason  to  the 
clear  discoveries  of  God  in  his  holy  word. 

"5.  Reliance  on  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"  6.   Continual  prayer  for  the  dispensation  of  that  Spirit. 

**  The  want  of  attention  to  one  or  more  of  these  particu- 


308  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

lars  I  considered  as  the  main  cause  of  the  heresies,  supersti- 
tions, and  errors,  which  have  deformed  and  distracted  the 
Christian  church." 

After  prayer  and  secret  meditation,  Mr.  AYilson  proposed, 
as  the  second  topic  for  discussion,  "  The  mind  of  the  Spirit, 
as  revealed  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  in  regard  to  tlie  person 
and  grace  of  Chrht ;""  and  called  on  the  Rev.  J.  Haidane 
Stewart  to  speak  to  the  point.  He  obeyed  in  a  discussion 
of  some  length,  evinchig  famiUarly  deep  acquaintance  with 
his  theme. 

Another  interval  for  prayer  and  secret  meditation  ensued, 
and  then  Mr.  Wilson  proposed,  as  the  third  topic  for  discus- 
sion, "  That  depravity  of  heart  in  the  unregenerate,  and  that 
remainder  of  evil  in  the  regenerate,  which  obstruct  right 
aiiiorehensions  of  the  person  and  grace  of  Christ''  and 
called  on  the  Rev.  Mr.  Darby  for  his  views  in  illustration 
of  the  same ;  and  they  were  given  in  a  way  which  showed, 
that  like  the  preceding  speakers,  he  was  "  a  scribe  w^ell 
instructed  unto  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

Need  it  be  doubted,  that  after  discussion,  by  Christians 
of  such  heavenly  ripeness,  of  topics  like  these,  sprinkled  with 
so  much  of  the  incense  of  holy  prayer  and  silent  musing, 
many  of  the  members  of  that  favored  circle  went  forth  and 
preached  Christ  with  a  clearness  and  an  unction  which 
had  never  before  marked  their  teachings  on  this  great 
theme  ? 

At  the  anniversary,  on  Friday,  of  the  Society  for  pro- 
moting the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  Dr.  Milnor's  feel- 
ings were  not  a  little  disturbed  by  an  untimely  and  **  vehe- 
ment" discussion,  by  the  Rev.  Hugh  McNeile  and  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Dalton,  of  "  the  prophetical  question  ;"  exhibiting  their 
"  views  of  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,"  and  urging  "  the 
high  doctrines  of  Calvin  as  among  the  purest  principles  of 
the  Reformation."  They  "  reflected  severely  on  the  evan- 
gelical clergy"  in  general,  as  not  coming  up  to  their  stand- 
ard, and  at  the  same  time,  "  in  very  severe  terms  denounced 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  309 

dissent,  and  seemed  to  rest  the  claims  of  the  estabhshed 
church,  as  a  true  church  of  Christ,  .upon  its  connection 
with  the  state."  "  Nothing,"  adds  Dr.  Mihior,  "  so  appar- 
ently out  of  place  as  the  remarks  of  these  gentlemen,  had 
occurred  in  all  my  attendance  upon  the  public  meetings. 
They  are  both  talented  men,  and  Mr.  McNeile,  who  is  son- 
in-law  to  Dr.  Magee,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  is  a  fine-looking 
man,  and  a  remarkably  fluent  and  powerful  speaker." 

The  dinner-party,  this  evening,  at  the  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester's, was  one  of  great  interest.  Much  conversation 
was  had  on  the  subjects  of  prison  discipline,  the  progress  of 
the  temperance  reformation  in  the  United  States,  and  the 
violation  of  the  Sabbath,  especially  in  London.  "  The 
Bishop  of  Winchester  also  mentioned  a  singular  custom 
which  prevails  in  the  island  of  Guernsey,  a  part  of  his  dio- 
cese." In  that  little  by-place,  of  which  so  little  is  gener- 
ally known,  it  seems  that  ' '  they  have  popular  elections  for 
several  officers,  occurring  several  times  in  the  course  of  the 
year.  These  are  held  07i  Sunday,  after  service  in  the  par- 
ish church,  and  are  often  accompanied  with  brawls  and  bat- 
tles. He  said  he  was  assured  by  the  rector  of  one  of  the 
churches,  that  at  a  recent  Sunday  election,  he  was  the  only 
sober  person  present.  The  bishop  has  been  laboring  to  get 
the  time  and  place  of  these  elections  changed  ;  but  it  seems 
to  be  claimed  as  a  matter  of  internal  arrangement,  by  the 
authorities  of  the  island,  where  the  assent  of  three  estates 
is  necessary  to  bring  about  this  salutary  measure.  I  am 
not  certain,"  says  Dr.  Miliior,  "  that  I  remember  their  sev- 
eral denominations,  but  I  think  they  were  the  clergy,  the 
magistrates,  and  the  constables.  The  first  two  orders  have 
met  and  deliberated,  and  are  in  favor  cf  the  proposed 
change  ;  but  the  constables  are  for  adhering  to  this  odious 
desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  and  therefore  absent  themselves 
from  the  meetings,  to  prevent  the  accomphshment "  of  the 
bishop's  measure,  "  their  presence  being  necessary  to  form 
a  quorum." 


310  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

The  evening  being  thus  agreeably  spent,  "  after  tea  m 
the  drawing-room,  the  company  were  invited  into  an  ad- 
joining parlor,  when  Mrs.  Sumner  seated  herself  at  a  grand 
piano,  and  accompanied  by  the  chaplain,  played  and  sung  a 
fine  piece  of  sacred  music.  We  were  then  provided  with 
hymn-books,  and  sung,  standing,  the  hymn, 

'  How  sweet  the  name  of  Jesus  sounds 
In  a  believer's  ear ;' 

after  which  the  bishop  gave  out  the  Doxology, 

'Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow,' 

which  was  sung  to  the  tune  of  Old  Hundred,  and  we  took 
our  leave." 

Dr.  Milnor's  account  of  the  breakfast  on  Saturday  morn- 
ing, also  has  much  interest. 

"  Having  been  invited  to  breakfast  this  morning  with 
Capt.  Gordon,  in  St.  James'  Place,  for  the  purpose  of  meet- 
ing Dr.  Chalmers,  I  proceeded  thither  at  the  appointed  hour. 
I  found  the  doctor  there,  and  was  introduced  to  him ;  but 
regretted  that  he  could  stay  but  a  few  minutes,  being  under 
a  previous  engagement  to  breakfast  elsewhere.  In  the  short 
conversation  which  I  had  with  him,  he  observed,  that  he 
was  very  happy  to  hear  of  the  rapid  progress  of  learning 
and  religion  in  the  United  States.  He  had  read  with 
great  satisfaction  the  writings  of  several  of  our  American 
divines,  and  referred  especially  to  those  of  Dr.  Stuart  of 
Andover  ;  adding,  that  he  had  lately  read  and  much  admired 
the  work  of  Dr.  Alexander  of  Princeton,  on  the  canon  of 
Scripture.  The  doctor  kindly  said,  he  hoped  he  should 
meet  with  me  before  he  left  London ;  but  if  not,  would 
expect  me  to  call  on  him  if  I  went  to  Edinburgh.  I  was 
sorry  that  my  friend  Mcllvaine,  who  had  spent  the  night 
out  of  town,  arrived  with  the  Rev.  B.  W.  Noel  too  late  to 
see  a  man  whose  writings  have  so  much  instructed  and 
delighted  us  at  home. 

"  Captain  Gordon,  our  host,  is  a  countryman  of  Dr 


MISSION  TO  ENQLAND.  311 

Chalmers  ;  a  man  of  great  muscular  strength,  and  of  a 
proportionably  vigorous  and  sturdy  mind.  He  is  the  great 
champion  of  the  Reformation  Society,  a  thoroughly  informed 
evangelical  Christian,  and  particularly  well  acquainted  with 
the  whole  merits  of  the  controversy  between  Protestants  and 
Roman  Catholics.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Dalton  was  also  of  our 
company  at  breakfast ;  and  we  did  not  fail  to  express  to 
him  our  regret,  that  the  current  of  good  feeling  at  the 
meeting  yesterday,  should  have  been  in  any  degree  inter- 
rupted by  the  introduction  of  topics  on  which  a  difierence 
of  opinion  prevailed,  and  which  had  no  connection  with 
the  object  of  the  meeting;  more  especially,  considering 
that  the  opinions  introduced  had  been  received  by  so  small 
a  portion  of  the  audience,  and  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
almost  immediate  coming  of  Christ  was  known  to  have 
had  the  effect  of  leading  many  of  its  advocates  to  abandon 
most  of  the  great  religious  institutions.  Mr.  Dalton,  how- 
ever, was  unconvinced  of  the  impropriety  of  his  course. 
He  considered  the  doctrines  which  he  had  promulged  to  be 
true  and  very  important ;  and  being  so,  it  behooved  him  on 
all  occasions  to  urge  them.  Millenarianism  and  supralap- 
sarian  Calvinism  were,  in  his  view,  such  fundamental  doc- 
trines, and  their  rejection  had  such  a  tendency  to  lead  the 
mind  into  the  corruptions  of  popery,  that  he  considered  his 
duty  to  God  and  the  souls  of  his  fellow-men  required  him, 
yesterday  particularly,  to  dwell  upon  them.  It  was  in  vain 
to  argue  with  a  man  under  such  feelings  and  impressions 
of  personal  duty.  In  answer  to  an  intimation  from  me, 
that  his  views  of  Christian  doctrine  might  lead  to  antino- 
mianism,  it  is  due  to  Mr.  Dalton  to  say,  that  he  utterly  dis- 
claimed the  right  to  draw  such  inferences  from  his  doctrine 
as  should  lead  to  the  least  allowance  of  sin.  He  admitted 
that,  in  due  proportion,  the  whole  gospel  scheme  should  be 
developed  ;  and  its  duties  and  obligations,  both  religious 
and  moral,  urged  upon  men.  Mr.  Dalton  himself  bears  the 
character  of  a  man  who  walks  strictly  according  to  godli- 


312  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

ness.  Our  conversation  was  spirited,  but  in  good  temper, 
and  was  concluded  with  prayer." 

The  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Antislavery  Society,  after 
breakfast,  was  a  scene  of  most  intense  excitement.  Free- 
masons' Hall  was  crowded  with  an  almost  impenetrable 
mass ;  so  that  when  "  the  committee,  headed  by  Mr,  Wil- 
berforce,  the  veteran  advocate"  of  the  oppressed  African, 
entered,  they  were  obliged  to  "  force  their  way  through  the 
dense  crowd.  Every  one  seemed  to  feel  for  the  distinguished 
champion  of  African  liberty,  whose  appearance  was  now 
that  of  a  shadow  of  a  man,  and  who  was  quite  exhausted 
after  accomplishing  the  labor  of  getting  to  his  place.  In 
a  few  words  of  address  from  his  colleague,  the  venerable 
Thomas  Clarkson,  he  was  proposed  as  chairman ;  and  his 
appointment  to  that  office  was  carried  by  an  astounding 
acclamation. 

"  On  taking  the  chair,"  continues  Dr.  Milnor,  "  he  made 
an  address  of  some  length,  with  much  energy  of  manner,  but 
in  so  feeble  a  voice,  that  I  presumed  those  at  the  greatest 
distance,  notwithstanding  the  profound  attention  of  the  audi- 
ence, could  scarcely  hear  him.  He  was  repeatedly  cheered 
with  loud  applause,  and  at  the  close,  with  a  long  reiteration 
of  it,  in  which  several  well-dressed  sons  of  Africa  on  the 
platform  most  heartily  joined." 

A  scene  of  the  most  animated  and  stormily  sublime  ex- 
citement was  produced  at  this  anniversary  by  an  attempt  of 
Mr.  Hunt  the  radical,  though  not  a  member  of  the  society, 
to  introduce  his  peculiar  views,  and  to  bring  odium  on  the 
society  for  expending  all  its  sympathy  on  the  suffering  slave 
of  the  West  Indies,  to  the  neglect  of  the  more  suffering  oper- 
ative of  England  ;  and  the  strong  spirit  of  eloquence  being 
thus  stirred,  a  discussion  subsequently  sprung  up,  which 
brought  out  some  of  the  most  powerful  speakers  of  the  day. 
Mr.  Hunt,  after  being  received  at  first  with  fierce  English 
defiance,  finally  obtained  the  floor  through  the  intercession 
of  Mr.  Brougham ;  .but  "  his  language  became  at  length  so 


MISSION   TO  ENaLAND.  313 

offensive,"  that  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  society,  he  was 
compelled  "  reluctantly  to  take  his. seat  j-'-^'-and  when  it  came 
to  be  Mr.  Brougham's  turn  to  speak,  he  "  honored  Mr.  Hunt 
with  a  severe  answer  to  his  animadversion  on  the  support- 
ers of  this  institution,"  and  showed  that  the  friends  of  the 
"West  India  slave  "  were,  with  very  few  exceptions,  the  very 
men  who  manifested  most  anxiety  for  the  moral  and  social 
welfare  of  the  poorer  classes  at  home." 

When  Dr.  Milnor  and  his  friend  Mcllvaine  left  the  meet 
ing,  "  it  was  past  five  o'clock,  and  others  w'ere  still  to  speak." 
"  With  some  difficulty,"  he  writes,  we  "  made  our  way  out, 
being  under  an  engagement  to  dine  with  Mr.  Ewbank,  of 
Peckham.  We  were  so  delayed  in  finding  a  conveyance, 
that  it  was  near  seven  o'clock  when  we  arrived  at  Mr.  Ew- 
bank's.  Dinner,  how^ever,  had  been  delayed.  Before  the 
company  rose  from  table,  I  regretted  that  my  friend  found 
himself  so  fatigued  by  the  length  and  excitement  of  the  anti- 
slavery  meeting,  that  he  was  obliged  to  retire  for  the  night. 

*'  Before  the  company  retired,  I  was  called  upon  to  read, 
expound,  and  pray  ;  and,  being  under  an  engagement  to 
spend  to-morrow  with  this  hospitable  family,  I  went  to  bed, 
not  like  my  friend,  sick,  but  uncommonly  weary  with  the 
exercises  of  the  day." 


SECTION  III. 

The  great  London  anniversaries  were  now  at  an  end ; 
and  it  only  remained  for  Dr.  Milnor,  during  his  stay  in  Eng- 
land, to  cultivate  and  perfect  the  many  delightful  and  valu- 
able friendships,  which,  during  their  progress,  he  had  formed, 
and  to  dispose  of  the  numerous  subordinate  details  of  busi- 
ness with  which  he  had  come  charged  from  his  native  land. 
His  Sunday  at  Peckham,  May  16,  was  spent  in  attending 
service,  with  his  hospitable  entertainers,  morning  and  even- 
Mem.  Milnor.  14 


ni4     -  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

ing,  at  Camden  chapel,  in  the  suburb  of  Camberwell,  where 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Melvill  preg-ched ;  and,  in  the  afternoon,-  at  a 
neighboring  chapel,  where  the  Rev.  Mr.  Springett  offici- 
ated. 

Mr.  Melvill  came  to  breakfast  the  next  morning  at  Mr. 
Ewbank's,  and  they  enjoyed  his  "  pleasing  conversation  until 
near  11  o'clock;"  when  Dr.  Milnor  and  Mr.  Mcllvaine  went 
with  Mrs.  Ewbank  and  her  three  sisters  to  "  Dulwich  col- 
lege, a  deUghtful  establishment  about  four  miles  distant,"  to 
see  "  the  Bourgeois  collection  of  pictures,"  so  called  from  the 
donor,  Sir  Francis  Bourgeois.  "The  institution,  1  hough 
called  a  college,  is  so  only  in  name.  It  has  a  consideraljle 
endowment,  which  supports  a  few  old  people,  pays  the  sala- 
ries of  certain  officers,  and  maintains  the  exhibition  of  these 
pictures." 

After  spending  about  two  hours  at  this  charming  place, 
they  proceeded  "  through  a  very  pleasant  range  of  country, 
including  the  fme  town  of  Deptford,  on  the  Thames,  to 
Greenwich,"  "  to  dine  with  Mr.  Locker,  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners of  Greenwich  Hospital,  and  secretary  to  that  institu- 
tion." Before  dinner  they  took  a  view  of  "  this  magnificent 
establishment ;"  the  apartments  of  the  veteran  tars ;  the 
schools  for  the  children,  boys  and  girls ;  the  gymnasium, 
where  the  lads  are  trained  to  wonderful  strength  and  expert- 
ness  in  all  the  exercises  of  nautical  athletse  ;  the  cooking  and 
washing  establishments,  and  the  dormitories,  all  worthy  of 
this  vast  palace  of  England's  scarred  and  superannuated 
sailors  and  their  families.  They  visited  also  its  "  beautiful 
park,  two  and  a  half  miles  in  circumference,"  and  stocked 
with  two  hundred  of  the  king's  deer  ;  the  Royal  Observatory 
on  the  eminence,  overlooking  wjilks  made  shady  by  *'  elms 
more  than  two  hundred  years  old  ;"  and  the  chapel,  with  its 
altar-piece  by  West,  representing  "  St.  Paul's  preservation 
from  shipwreck,"  an  idea  most  appropriate  to  the  leading 
design  of  this  grand  naval  hospital.  "  IIow  lamentable," 
writes  Dr.  Milnor,  "  lliat,  in  an  institution  contaijung  such  a 


MISSION   TO  EKGLAND.  3l5 

number  of  inmates,  there  should  be,  as  we  understood,  a 
great  want  of  solid  spiritual  instruction;  especially  when 
the  further  fact  is  added,  that  two  hundred  of  the  aged  ten- 
ants of  Greenwich  annually  sink  into  the  grave." 

At  dinner,  they  found  their  host  to  be  "a  scholar  of 
Eton,  a  gentleman  of  great  intelligence,  and  a  decidedly 
pious  man  ;"  who  informed  them  "  that  this  great  institution 
is  supported  by  funds  of  its  own ;"  and  that,  of  its  "board 
of  five  commissioners,  all,  except  Mr.  Locker,  were  at  that 
time  titled  persons,  who  paid  great  attention  to  its  affairs." 

At  8  o'clock,  they  "  took  a  row-boat  to  convey  them  to 
London ;"  and  as  they  reached  "  the  steps  leading  down  to 
the  Thames,  in  front  of  the  hospital,  they  had  a  fine  view 
of  the  whole  from  the  water,"  with  its  terrace  on  the  river, 
nine  hundred  feet  long  ;  the  grand  square  between  the  wings, 
more  than  two  hundred  feet  broad ;  the  statue  of  George 
IL,  which  ornaments  the  centre ;  and  the  entire  mass  of 
building,  "of  white  stone,  richly  wrought,  and  forming  a 
pile  of  palaces  far  too  gorgeous  for  the  purpose  to  which 
they  are  now  applied." 

Dr.  Milnor's  first  engagement  on  Tuesday  morning.  May 
18,  was  to  attend  a  public  breakfast  at  the  E.ev.  J.  Haldane 
Stewart's,  very  similar  in  character  to  that  at  Islington,  of 
which  an  account  has  been  given.  The  principal  point  of 
difference  was,  that  instead  of  three  separate  topics  for  dis- 
cussion, Mr.  Stewart  proposed  but  one,  on  which  he  invited 
different  speakers  to  give  their  own  favorite  views.  The 
interest  of  the  discussion  may  be  inferred  from  the  theme 
proposed,  "What  part  of  the  character  and  offices  of  Christ 
had  any  of  us  found  most  serviceable  to  our  own  souls,  and 
to  the  souls  of  those  committed  to  our  charge?"  and  from 
the  names  of  those  who  were  invited  to  discuss  it,  Daniel 
Wilson,  Dr.  Milnor,  and  the  author  of  "  The  Velvet  Cushion," 
J.  W.  Cunningham.  Mr.  Mcllvaine,  who  had  been  too  ill 
to  be  present  at  breakfast,  "joined  them  in  the  course  of 
their  morning  duties."     "At  their  termination,"  says  the 


316  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

journal,  *'  we  agreed  that  it  was,  to  each  of  us,  a  season  of 
peculiar  spiritual  enjoyment ;  and  humbly  did  we  trust 
that  we  had  with  us  the  divine  presence  and  blessing." 

Such  are  the  entertainments  which  true  British  Chris- 
tians prepare  for  their  foreign  brethren  of  kindred  soul ;  and 
which  draw  from  noble  ranks  guests  who  are  not  ashamed 
to  sit  openly  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  amid  the  oflerings  ol"  prayer, 
and  spiritual  song,  and  holy  teaching. 

Wednesday  morning,  May  19,  he  "rose  early,  and  was 
busily  engaged  in  various  matters  relating  to  the  religious 
objects  committed  to  his  charge." 

At  twelve  o'clock  he  "  went  to  the  Caledonian  chapel," 
Mr.  Irving's,  "  to  hear  Dr.  Chalmers  preach  a  sermon  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Society  for  the  support  of  Schools  in  the 
Highlands  and  Islands  of  Scotland.  His  subject  was,  Popu- 
lar Education ;  and  his  discourse,  written  in  his  usual  ele- 
vated style,  occupied  an  hour  in  the  delivery."  Says  the 
journal,  "  Nothing  but  the  sterling  good-sense  and  piety  that 
pervaded  this  discourse,  and  the  fine  language  in  which  the 
thoughts  of  the  preacher  were  clothed,  could,  for  so  long  a 
time,  have  so  enchained  the  attention  of  a  crowded  audience. 
For  though  the  doctor's  manner  is  very  earnest,  yet  in  other 
respects  his  delivery  is  very  unpleasant.  His  pronunciation 
is  strongly  Scottish ;  so  much  so,  that  some  of  his  words, 
though  loudly  uttered,  were  lost  upon  my  ear.  His  voice 
appeared  to  be  so  painfully  exerted,  as  at  times  to  become 
almost  a  scream.  His  gesture  was  confined  to  an  awkward 
up  and  down  motion  of  his  right  hand  ;  and  his  eyes  were 
pretty  closely  confined  to  his  notes.  And  yet  the  distin- 
guished talents  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  hi?  loftiness  of  thought, 
and  grandeur  of  expression,  together  with  the  practical  util- 
ity of  his  discourses,  raise  liim  so  far  above  his  contempora- 
ries, that  you  are  willing  to  excuse  all  the  disadvantageous 
circumstances  of  voice,  and  accent,  and  manner  m  their 
delivery." 

Much  of  Ins  time  for  several  days  was  now  spent  in  a 


MISSION  TO  UNaLAND.  317 

social  manner,  and  in  visiting  and  describing  the  sights  of 
great  London,  too  f  anriiliar  to  readers  of  foreign  travel  to  need 
a  place  in  this  work  ;  and  too  briefly  described  by  Dr.  Milnor 
to  increase  the  interest  of  his  memoir. 

On  Thursday,  May  20,  he  dined  again  with  his  friend 
Mr.  Gilliat  of  Clapham,  wliere,  among  others,  he  met  thb 
Hev.  Mr.  Hughes,  one  of  the  secretaries  of  "  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  iSociety,  a  man  of  learning  as  well  as  of  sound 
understanding  and  eminent  piety  ;  a  minister  of  the  Baptist 
denomination  ;  and  tJue  man  ivitJi  luliom  originated  the  idea 
of  fanning  a  grand  national  society  for  the  distribution  of 
the  Bible y 

Friday  afternoon  he  went  to  Woolwich  "  to  dine  with  Dr. 
Olinthus  Gregory,  principally  known  to  us  in  America  by  his 
excellent  Letters  on  the  Evidences  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Unhappily,"  he  writes,  "  we  found  Dr.  Gregory  in  his  cham- 
ber, having  been  ill  for  several  weeks  past.  He  came  down 
stairs  for  about  an  hour  after  dinner ;  and  while  he  was  able 
to  remain,  conversed  with  great  vivacity  and  interest.  He 
is  a  man  of  very  pleasing  manners,  as  well  as  great  talents, 
and  learning,  and  piety." 

In  the  evening  he  met,  at  his  friend  Dr.  Parker's,  a  com- 
pany of  ladies  and  gentlemen.  The  occasion  of  this  assem- 
blage was  a  custom  which,  "for  twenty  years  past,"  had 
prevailed  among  "  a  few  pious  famihes  in  Woolwich,  to  meet 
at  each  others'  houses  in  rotation  every  Friday  evening,  for 
the  readhig  of  the  Scriptures,  religious  conversation,  and 
prayer."  After  the  close  of  the  exercises,  Dr.  Milnor  ob- 
serves, "  How  rational  and  charming  a  way  of  increashig  the 
delights  of  social  intercourse,  and  of  making  our  very  pleas- 
ures conduce  to  our  growth  in  religious  knowledge  and  prac;- 
tical  piety." 

Havhig  spent  the  night  with  Dr.  Parker,  he  went  on 
Saturday  to  view  "  the  Woolwich  arsenal,  one  of  the  grand- 
est establishments  of  the  kind  in  the  world  ;  covering  a  plot 
immediately  on  the  Thames  of  more  than  two  hundred  acres," 


318  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   MILXOR. 

and  filled  with  "  all  the  munitions  of  war ;"  in  looking  upon 
which,  a  Frenchman,  with  a  customary  national  expletive, 
exclaimed,  "  Here  are  oceans  of  guns,  and  mountains  of  shot." 

Sunday,  May  23,  he  rode  "  to  Paul's  Cray,  seven  miles 
distant,"  to  spend  the  day  with  "  the  Rev.  John  Symonds, 
the  rector  of  the  parish."  His  friend  Mcllvaine  accompa- 
nied him.  Of  this  visit  the  journal  gives  the  following 
account. 

"  Mr.  Symonds  is  now  seventy-five  years  old,  and  has 
been  for  fility  years  rector  of  this  parish.  He  is  a  tall,  spare, 
pale-faced  old  gentleman ;  but  of  an  amiable  countenance, 
aliectionate  manners,  and  great  piety.  He  has  the  reputa- 
tion, along  with  his  many  excellent  qualities,  of  being  not  a 
little  eccentric. 

"  Though  his  curate  was  present,  yet  the  old  gentleman 
read  the  morning  service  and  preached  extemporaneously 
for  nearly  an  hour.  His  manner  was  very  lively  and  ener- 
getic for  a  man  of  such  advanced  age."  His  text  being  Heb. 
2  :  6-11,  *'  he  dwelt  earnestly  on  two  topics,  of  which  he  is 
said  to  be  peculiarly  fond  :  full  assurance,  which  he  seemed 
to  consider  a  necessary  evidence  of  true  faith,  and  claimed 
as  the  undoubted  privilege  of  eveiy  real  believer ;  and  the 
spiritual  union  of  Christ  with  the  believer,  which,  as  he  con- 
siders, is  not  maintained,  in  its  just  extent,  by  even  the  evan- 
gelical clergy  of  the  church. 

"  After  morning  service,  a  loaf  of  bread  was  given  to 
each  of  a  crowd  of  thirty  or  forty  poor  persons ;  a  custom 
which  the  aged  rector  has  long  observed  every  Lord's-day 
morning.  He  says  it  relieves  their  bodily  wants  and  brings 
them  to  church,  where,  peradventure,  they  may  find  a  sup- 
ply of  their  spiritual."  The  journal  questions  the  expediency 
of  such  a  motive  to  attend  church,  but  adds,  "  The  rector 
stood  at  the  door  to  give  a  word  of  religious  counsel  to  his 
beneficiaries,  and  pronounced  upon  them  his  pastoral  bene- 
diction." 

In  the  afternoon  the  curate  read  prayers  and  preached ; 


maSlOls   TO  EKGLAISD.-  319 

and  in  the  evening,  after  tea,  the  company  engaged  in  a  re- 
ligious service,  to  which  the  servants  \Yere  not  invited.  "  I 
was  surprised,"  says  Dr.  Milnor,  "  that  at  this,  which  I.  sup- 
posed to  be  the  family  service,  the  domestics  were  not  called 
in  ;  but  I  found  my  mistake,  when,  later  in  the  evening,  Mr. 
Symonds  intimated  that  the  hour  had  arrived  for  his  stated 
family  devotions.  Six  or  seven  servants  were  then  called 
in,  and  a  second  service  of  a  similar  kind  took  place.  The 
benevolence  of  the  old  gentleman  was  particularly  exhibited 
hi  his  expositions  of  Scripture,  and  in  his  kind  addresses  to 
his  domestics.  About  an  hour  was  afterwards  spent  in  con- 
versation, in  which  Mr.  Symonds  recurred  to  his  favorite 
topics,  full  assurance  as  inseparably  connected  with  a  vital 
faith,  and  the  indissoluble  union  of  the  believer  with  Christ. 
To  these  doctrines  he  adds  a  firm  persuasion  of  the  speedy 
personal  coming  of  Christ  to  reign  with  his  saints  upon  the 
earth.  He  does  not,  like  Mr.  Irving  and  his  associates,  dog- 
matize as  to  the  place  in  which  his  throne  is  to  be  established, 
or  as  to  the  period  of  his  reign,  and  many  other  circumstan- 
ces, which  are  expected  to  attend  that  great  event.  But  by 
calculations,  founded  on  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  book  of  the  Revelation,  he  is  persuaded  that,  about  the 
year  1836,  Christ  will  appear,  the  saints  will  awake  from 
the  dead,  and  the  living  believers  be  changed.  He  expressed 
a  confident  belief,  that  if  he  should  live  six  years  from  the 
present  date,  John  Symonds  would  never  die." 

Returning  to  London  Monday  morning.  Dr.  Milnor  at- 
tended "  by  appointment  the  Institution  for  the  mstruction 
of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  in  Surrey,"  where  he  witnessed  a 
much  more  favorable  result  of  the  experiment  of  teaching 
this  class  of  pupils  to  articulate,  than  that  which  he  had 
witnessed  at  Liverpool.  "  I  conversed  some  time,"  says  he, 
"  with  a  deaf  mute,  who  is  a  tutor  in  the  school,  of  consid- 
erable intelligence.  He  spoke  plainly,  grammatically,  and 
agreeably  ;  and,  with  now  and  then  a  repetition  of  my  words, 
understood  me  by  the  motion  of  my  lips.     I  was  allowed  to 


320  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

see  several  of  his  compositions,  w^liich  evinced  a  finely  culti- 
vated mind,  an  accurate  acquaintance  with  the  construclioa 
of  sentences,  and,  what  to  me  was  most  pleasing  of  all,  an 
evident  knowledge  of  the  truths  of  religion,  and  a  practical 
impression  of  them  upon  his  own  heart. 

"  But  an  exhibition,  by  which  1  was  particularly  de- 
lighted and  surprised,  was  by  a  beautiful  boy  twelve  or  thir- 
teen years  of  age,  who,  standing  on  a  form,  recited  hi  a  sweet, 
pensive  voice,  with  good  accent  and  emphasis,  and  without 
the  smallest  error,  an  address,  which  he  is  to  deliver  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  patrons  ol'  the  institution,  shortly  to 
be  held,  at  which  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  is  expected  to  pre- 
side. I  held  the  printed  address  in  my  hand  while  he  de- 
livered it,  and  am  persuaded  that  no  one  not  apprized  of  the 
fact,  would  have  imagined  this  interesting  child  to  be  an 
object  for  the  care  of  such  an  institution  as  this." 

Alter  visiting  "  the  model  school  of  the  British  and  For- 
eign School  ISociety,"  Dr.  Milnor  "  proceeded  to  a  meeting 
of  the  committee  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 
I  respec'J'ully  hitimated,"  he  writes,  *'  the  anxious  desire  ol 
cur  boaid  of  managers,  that  this  committee  would  send  a 
delegale,  or  delegates,  to  represent  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  at  the  aiuiiversary  of  the  American  Bible  So- 
ciety in  May  next.  The  suggestion  was  kindly  received; 
but  I  did  not  urge,  in  reference  to  it,  immediate  action." 

On  Tuesday,  May  25,  Dr.  Miluor  and  his  friend  dined 
with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Raikes,  examining  chaplain  to  the  bishop 
of  Chester.  "  A  young  Cantabrigian,"  he  says,  "  made  many 
inquiries  about  America,  indicating  a  singular  unacquaintance 
with  every  thing  in  our  country.  I  was  not  more  surprised 
at  this  in  him,  than  1  have  been  at  the  same  thing  in  many 
others,  especially  the  clergy.  The  merchants  are  the  best 
informed  persons  respecting  American  aflairs." 

On  Wednesday  he  dined  "with  Zachary  Macauley,  Esq., 
first  editor  of  the  Christian  Observer,  one  of  the  excellent  of 
the  earth."    Dr.  Milnor  remarks,  "  As  the  company  consisted 


MISSION   TO  EI{G^LAKr).  '321 

almost  entirely  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  his  OA\ai  family 
and  connections,  I  had  the  privilcfre  of  the  evening's  conver- 
sation with  him  almost  without  hiterruption.  He  is  well 
acquainted  with  America,  and  has  for  our  country  a  great 
regard.     It  supplied  many  topics  of  conversation. 

"  Mr.  Macauley  expressed  great  regret  at  the  dissensions 
arising  out  of  the  existing  controversies  in  regard  to  proph- 
ecy. Though  by  no  means  concurring  in  opinion  with  the 
Millenarians,  as  to  the  speedy  personal  coming  of  Christ  to 
reign  upon  the  earth,  yet  he  was  willing  to  allow  them  the 
credit  of  a  conscientious  persuasion  of  the  truth  of  their 
views,  and  \^'as  not,  therefore,  disposed  to  break  friendship 
with  them  on  account  of  their  diflerence  on  this  point.  But 
it  unhappily  occurs,  that  most  of  the  Millenarians  adopt 
novel  opinions  upon  other  subjects  of  more  vital  importance  ; 
Mr.  Irving  and  Mr.  McNeile  insisting  on  the  peccability  of 
Christ ;  and  both,  with  many  of  their  friends,  separating 
from  the  Bible  {Society  and  other  benevolent  institutions. 
Mr.  McNeile  also  claims  exclusive  jure  divino  right  for  the 
established  church,  principally  on  account  of  the  king  being 
its  head.  Of  course,  he  would  unchurch  altogether  our 
American  Episcopacy.  He  also  pretty  strongly  intimates 
the  superiority  of  Jewish  faith  to  that  of  those  imperfect 
behevers  in  Christ,  who  do  not  concur  in  his  Millenariari 
views ;  his  mind  inclinhig  to  the  position,  that  their  firm 
persuasion  of  a  coming  Messiah,  who  is  to  reign  at  Jerusa- 
lem, will  more  avail  to  their  salvation  as  Jews,  than  that 
of  antimillenarians  will  to  them  as  Christians." 

Between  the  26th  of  May  and  the  16th  of  June,  the 
remainder  of  his  residence  in  London,  Dr.  Milnor  transacted 
Various  matters  of  business  with  the  different  religious  bodies 
to  M'hich  he  had  brought  commissions ;  continuing,  at  the 
same  time,  to  cultivate  and  extend  his  social  and  fiiendly 
relations  with  those  accomplished  and  estimable  Christian 
men,  who  are  to  be  found  at  that  great  centre  of  English 
society. 

14* 


322  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

Among  the  many  gentlemen  in  London  to  whom  he  be- 
came warmly  attached,  was  that  eminent  man  of  God, 
Daniel  Wilson,  "than  whom,"  says  he,  "no  one  in  England 
has  been  more  anxious  to  show  me  kind  attention.  He  cal- 
culates on  my  spending  a  week  at  his  dehghtful  residence  in 
Islington  ;  but  that  will  not  be  practicable."  Nevertheless, 
he  spent  there  the  afternoon  and  night  of  Thursday;  and 
from  that  time  until  Tuesday  morning,  June  1,  in  the  en- 
joyment of  the  peaceful  and  blessed  family  scenes  amid 
which  that  faithful  servant  of  Christ  was  then  moving.  At 
the  Thursday  evening  dinner  he  met  Mr.  Bickersteth  again, 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Natt,  "the  latter  of  whom  had  just  been 
presented  to  the  living  of  St.  Sepulchre's,  Newgate-street. 
He  is,"  says  the  journal,  "  a  decidedly  evangelical  man,  and 
succeeds  a  drone  in  a  parish  of  15,000  souls,  within  the 
limits  of  which,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  old  city,  there  is 
not  another  place  of  worship,  except  the  adjacent  chapel  in 
Newgate  prison.  And  this  important  station  has  for  forty 
years  been  occupied  by  a  man  who  has  left  no  fruits  of  his 
ministry  for  a  blessing  on  his  memory.  Mr.  Natt's  first 
measure  was,  to  dismiss  a  useless  young  curate,  and  appoint 
in  his  place  one  who  is  able  and  willing  to  work  where  the 
required  labor  will  be  immense." 

The  same  evening,  after  dinner,  he  attended  a  meetmg 
of  the  committee  of  the  Islington  Church  Missionary  Society, 
in  Mr.  AVilson's  study  ;  and,  after  the  transaction  of  the  reg- 
ular business,  gave,  at  the  request  of  the  members,  important 
information  touching  "the  origin,  design,  proceedings,  and 
success  of  temperance  societies  in  the  United  States."  He 
adds,  "  The  impression  produced  on  the  minds  of  the  gentle- 
men present,  was  quite  favorable  to  the  idea  of  attempting 
something  of  the  same  kind  here.  Mr.  "Wilson  invited  two 
or  three  gentlemen,  most  likely  to  take  up  this  business  in 
Islington,  to  meet  me  at  dinner  to-morrow  for  further  con- 
versation." 

"  Our  family  devotions  this  evening  were  peculiarly  inter- 


MISSION  10  EInG-LAND.  323 

estiiig.  Two  young  female  relatives  read  the  Scriptures  by 
alternate  verses ;  Mr.  Wilson,  and  I  at  his  request,  inter- 
spersing remarks  from  time  to  time.  Miss  AVilson,  an  elderly 
sister  of  the  vicar,  then  read  a  hymn,  and  I  concluded  with 
prayer.  The  intelligence  and  piety  of  Mr.  Wilson,  in  his 
explicatory  and  practical  remarks,  were  delightfully  mani- 
fested, and  his  manner  was  exceedingly  edifying ;  it  was 
plain  and  unpretending,  yet  full  of  interest  and  instruc- 
tion." 

Between  breakfast  and  dinner,  the  next  morning,  he 
visited  the  house  of  the  Society  for  the  promotion  of  Chris- 
tian Knowledge,  and  transacted  business  involving  the  mu- 
tual relations  of  the  English  and  American  churches,  and 
the  interests  of  the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
of  the  latter.  At  dinner,  he  writes,  "  The  Kev.  Mr.  Sandys, 
minister  of  a  newly  erected  chapel  in  Islington,  w^as,  besides 
myself,  the  only  guest ;  and  he  stated  his  impressions  from 
my  address  last  evening  in  regard  to  temperance  societies, 
to  be  such  that  he  was  persuaded  it  was  his  duty  to  attempt 
soraetliing  next  week  towards  the  commencement  of  a  society 
in  a  portion  of  this  parish.  I  promised  to  do  what  I  could 
to  assist  him. 

"After  dinner,  I  accompanied  Mr.  and  Miss  Wilson  to 
drink  tea  wdth  Mrs.  Fowler,  at  Stoke-Newmgton.  Besides 
meeting  a  very  sensible  and  devoutly  pious  woman,  the  visit 
was  rendered  interesting  from  the  circumstance,  that  the 
house  in  which  Mrs.  Fowler  resides  was,  for  thirty-five  years 
of  his  life,  the  residence  of  that  excellent  man,  Dr.  Watts. 
We  went  into  his  study,  and  saw  a  portrait  of  him  which 
hung  there  in  his  lifetime,  and  has  come  down  as  a  sort  of 
heirloom  with  the  house.  We  walked  through  the  beautiful 
grounds  in  the  rear  of  the  dwelling,  and  especially  a  shady 
avenue  of  considerable  length,  terminating  in  an  arbor, 
which  was  his  favorite  resort.  I  can  hardly  conceive  of  a 
retreat  more  suited  to  the  feelings  of  such  a  man  as  Dr. 
Watts.     The  house  is  spacious,  with  every  convenience  usual 


324  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

in  the  countiy  residences  of  the  wealthy  ;  and  though  I  sup- 
pose it  to  be  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  old,  it  is  yet  in  per- 
fect repair.  In  the  hall  are  chairs  of  a  very  antique  appear- 
ance, which  were  there  in  Dr.  Watts'  time,  and  which  are 
fiaid  to  have  belonged  to  the  stadtholder  of  Holland." 

He  spent  the  next  evening  at  Barnsbury  Park,  with  the 
vicar  and  the  clergy  cf  his  parish,  at  their  stated  weekly 
meeting.  From  the  fact  that  the  parish  of  St.  Mary's,  Isling- 
ton, is  very  large,  and  that  the  building  of  chapels  for  its 
l^opulation  has  been  a  favored  measure,  "  Mr.  Wilson  had 
the  control  of  five  churches,  holding  from  1,500  to  2,000 
persons  each,  the  ministers  of  M^iich  were  all  men  of  senti- 
ments congenial  with  his  own,  united  in  the  closest  bonds  of 
Christian  aflection,  and  'striving  together  for  the  faith  of 
the  gospel '  and  the  good  of  souls."  It  was  with  propriety, 
thenfore,  that  Dr.  Milnor  added,  "  The  situation  of  the  vicar 
of  Islington  is  one  of  arduous  duty,  and  great  responsibility, 
and  yet  it  is  truly  enviable.  In  connection  with  his  own 
private  means,  it  supplies  him  with  a  large  fund  for  chari- 
table eflbrt,  which  he  most  faithfully  applies.  Universally 
respected  and  beloved,  his  influence  within  his  important 
sphere  is  unbounded.  Besides,  his  writings  are  extensively 
read,  and  his  agency  in  useful  public  institutions  is  emi- 
nenlly  beneficial." 

The  religious  exercises  which  followed  tea  were  concluded 
by  Mr.  Wilson  "  with  a  prayer,  in  which  he  poured  out  his 
Boul  in  fervent  B\ipphcations,  not  only  for  the  Church  in 
England,  but  also  for  the  Church  in  America,  for  the  con- 
gregation of  St.  George's,  and  in  a  most  touching  maimer, 
for  myself  and  the  object  of  my  mission.  May  the  Lord 
make  this  sweet  opportunity  of  brotherly  communion  pro- 
motive of  the  best  results." 

So  passed,  till  Tuesday  morning,  his  time  with  the  be- 
loved vicar  of  Islington,  during  his  sojourn  with  whom,  in 
addition  to  numerous  other  engagements,  he  took  part  in 
measures  for  organizing  in  that  important  portion  of  London 


MISSION   TO  ENaLANr.  325 

a  society  for  promoting  the  better  observance  of  the  Lord's 
day. 

"  Tuesday,  June  1. — Mr.  Wilson  brought  me  to  town  in 
his  carriage  this  morning,  and  we  attended  together  a  meet- 
ing of  the  committee  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society.  An 
opportunity  was  ofTered  me  of  making  a  full  exposition  of  the 
views  of  the  directors  of  the  American  Episcopal  Domestic 
and  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  in  relation  to  intercourse 
with  this  excellent  institution.  It  was  received  with  the 
utmost  kindness,  and  a  resolution  was  passed  expressive  of 
their  regards  tow^ards  our  society,  and  another  directing 
copies  of  their  publications  to  be  presented  to  it." 

We  pass  to  his  account  of  "  the  anniversary  meeting  of 
the  children  of  the  charity  schools,  held  on  Thursday,  June  3, 
in  the  cathedral  church  of  St.  Paul's. 

"  There  were  in  attendance,"  he  observes,  "  about  6,000 
children  ;  and  every  part  of  the  church,  from  which  any 
view  could  be  had,  was  crowded  with  spectators.  The 
spectacle  was  most  imposing.  The  children  were  ranged  in 
seats  elevated  one  above  another  around  the  circumference 
of  the  pavement  under  the  grand  dome,  and  clothed  in 
dresses  of  various  forms  and  colors,  according  to  the  costume 
used  in  the  several  schools.  The  girls  were  all  in  close  caps, 
some  plain,  others  ornamented  with  bows  of  ribbons.  The 
boys  were  in  new  clothes,  of  many  fashions  ;  and  some  of 
them  looked  awkward  enough  in  their  long,  broad-baclied 
coats,  and  short  breeches,  the  latter  of  which  I  observed,  in 
one  of  the  schools,  to  be  of  leather.  The  cloth  and  the  cut 
are,  in  most  of  the  schools,  what  they  were  at  their  first 
institution. 

"  The  exercises  commenced  a  little  after  twelve  o'clock, 
by  the  children  singing,  accompanied  by  the  organ,  the  hun- 
dredth psalm.  Morning  service  was  partly  read  and  partly 
sung  by  the  cathedral  choir,  the  children  joining,  whenever 
it  occurred,  in  the  Gloria  Patri.  In  that  part  of  the  service 
where  prayer  is  made  for  the  king,  the  choir  and  the  children 


326  MEMOIR  OF  DE.  MILNOll. 

Bung  the  coronation  anthem  with  astonishing  power  and 
effect.  By  invitation,. we  occupied  seats  in  the  pew  erected 
for  the  members  of  the  '  Society  for  the  promotion  of  Chris- 
tian knowledge,'  one  of  the  most  favorable  positions  for  see- 
ing and  hearing ;  but  the  pulpit  being  placed  immediately 
under  the  great  dome,  the  preacher's  words  were  so  drowned 
in  reverberations  that  much  of  the  sermon  was  lost  upon  me, 
and  I  presume  that  in  some  parts  of  this  vast  building,  not 
even  a  sound  of  his  voice  was  heard.  The  sermon,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Monk,  dean  of  Peterborough — a  professed  eulogy 
on  the  Christian  Knowledge  society — ^was  about  forty  min- 
utes long,  and  the  whole  service  lasted  from  twelve  till  near 
three.  To  secure  places,  we  were  obliged  to  be  in  church  a 
little  after  ten. 

"  There  are  few  circumstances  which  I  should  have  re- 
gretted more  than  absence  on  this  occasion  ;  and  I  was  much 
indebted  to  Mr.  "Wilson  for  his  kindness  in  attending  us,  and 
lending  me  gown  and  bands  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  an 
entrance  at  the  clerical  door,  which  led  to  the  comfortable 
situation  with  which  we  were  favored.  The  children  kept 
good  time,  and  their  voices,  made  loud  by  the  multitude  from 
which  they  ascended,  were  at  the  same  time  thrillingly  de- 
lightful. The  whole  scene  was  in  a  high  degree  affecting  to 
every  one  present,  who  loved  the  rising  generation  and  the 
improvement  of  their  minds  and  hearts  in  the  duties  of  re- 
ligion and  morality." 

His  engagement  next  day  led  to  a  very  pleasing  acquaint- 
ance with  that  distinguished  member  of  the  society  of  Friends, 
Joseph  John  Gurney.  Calling  at  the  counting-room  of  his 
brother,  Mr,  S.  Gurney,  Dr.  Milnor  learned  that  the  former, 
who  resided  near  Norwich,  was  then  in  London,  and  would 
ditie  with  the  latter  at  his  residence  in  Upton,  five  miles 
from  town.  He  accordingly  accepted  a  very  urgent  invita- 
tion, and  accompanied  the  brother  to  dinner. 

"  Mr.  J.  J.  Gurney  had  been  detained  in  town,  at  a 
meeting,  which  lasted  several  hours,  of  members  of  the  com- 


MISSION   TO  ENGLAND.  327 

mittee  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  and  their 
friends  ;  the  object  of  which  was,  to  confer  in  a  friendly 
manner  on  a  proposition  which  has  been  made,  for  opening 
the  meetings  of  the  society  and  its  committee  with  prayer. 
He,  of  course,  as  a  Friend,  was  opposed  to  the  measure,  and 
lamented  its  being  brought  forward,  as  likely  to  lead  to  un- 
happy divisions.  He  is,  himself,  president  of  an  auxihary 
society,  a  situation  which  he  must  resign  if  the  measure 
should  be  adopted,  because  he  cannot,  consistently  with  his 
principles,  either  make  a  prayer  at  a  fixed  time  or  call  on 
another  person  to  perform  the  duty.  The  gentlemen  of  dis- 
senting churches  who  were  present,  though  opposed  to  the 
measure,  yet  put  their  opposition  wholly  on  the  ground  of 
regard  for  the  feelings  of  the  Friends.  It  was  evident,  how- 
ever, that  they  apprehended  difficulty  to  themselves,  in  the 
event  of  the  adoption  of  prayer,  from  a  claim  to  precedence 
in  the  performance  of  the  duty  which  would  probably  be 
urged  by  the  clergy  of  the  establishment.  In  fact,  before 
the  discussion  closed,  it  was  directly  stated  by  a  clergyman, 
that  such  precedence  would  be  claimed,  and  also  the  use  of 
a  prescribed  form.  Mr.  Gurney  bore  an  affectionate  testi- 
mony to  the  good  spirit  in  which  the  discussion  was  con- 
ducted, and  declared  that  if  it  should  be  decided  against  him, 
he  would  not  withdraw  from  the  society  himself,  and  would 
use  his  influence  to  prevent  others  from  withdrawing. 

"  The  question  is  evidently  a  very  embarrassing  one; 
and  if,  as  Mr,  Gurney  anticipates,  it  should  be  carried  af- 
firmatively, it  is  greatly  to  be  apprehended  that  it  will  dis- 
affect  many  Gluakers  and  others  towards  the  society ;  Avhile, 
if  it  should  be  negatived,  great  offence  will  be  given  to  those 
who  very  conscientiously  insist  on  the  introduction  of  prayer. 
And  whatever  be  the  result,  as  to  the  adoption  or  rejection 
of  the  measure,  I  much  fear  that  the  harmony  of  this  noble 
institution  will  be  interrupted ;  a  result,  in  my  view,  much 
more  to  be  deprecated  than  the  neglect  of  an  outward  ex- 
pression of  that  sentiment  of  gratitude  to  God,  and  of  depend- 


328  Ml^lHOm  OF  BE.  MlLNOR 

ence  on  him,  which  I  have  no  doubt  is  felt  by  the  function 
aries  of  Bible  societies  at  all  their  meetings. 

"  '  Prayer  is  the  soul's  sincere  desire, 
Uttered,  or  unexpressed ; 
The  motion  of  a  hidden  fire, 
That  trembles  in  the  breast. 

Prayer  is  the  burden  of  a  sigh, 

The  falling  of  a  tear  ; 
The  upward  glancing  of  an  eye, 

When  none  but  God  is  near.' 

"  I  felt  so  much  interest  in  the  conversation  of  this  intel- 
ligent and  amiable  man,  that  I  acceded  to  an  urgent  request 
to  pass  the  night  at  Upton.  Our  evening  was  spent  in  con- 
versation on  the  unhappy  dissensions  among  the  Friends  in 
America,  excited  by  Elias  Hicks,  whose  heresy,  it  was  stated, 
had  found  no  entrance  among  the  Friends  in  England,  the 
late  yearly  meeting  having  been  perfectly  unanimous  in 
maintaining  the  doctrines  which  Hicks  and  his  partisans 
have  opposed.  The  conversation  also  turned  on  the  subject 
of  Unitarianism  generally  ;  on  the  eli(3Cts,  hi  various  partic- 
ulars, of  our  republican  institutions  in  America ;  on  the  bene- 
fits derived  from  our  rejection  of  any  estabhshed  religion; 
and  on  the  progress  of  infidelity,  slavery,  etc." 

"  Satuudav,  June  5. — Mr.  S.  Gurney's  family  were  con- 
vened this  morning,  including  seven  female-servants,  several 
men-servants,  and  seven  children,  two  others  being  absent. 
Mr.  Guruey  read  a  chapter,  the  company  sitting  a  few  min- 
utes in  silence  both  before  and  after  the  reading. 

"  This  place  was  the  residence  of  the  late  Dr.  Fothergill, 
and  is  as  beautiful  as  a  perfectly  level  plain  of  seventeen 
acres  can  be  made.  It  is  a  place  of  perfect  silence  and  se- 
clusion in  the  midst  of  a  dense  population,  alibrding  both  in 
ils  buildings  and  in  its  grounds  a  delightful  retreat  from  the 
noise  and  smoke  of  Londtjn,  and  every  comfort  that  wealth, 
family  union,  love,  and  Christian  piety,  can  yield." 

"SfiNDAV,  June  G. — In  the  religious  exercises  with  'whicb 


MISSIOIT   TO  ENGLAND.  329 

I,  with  my  fellow-lodger,  Rev.  Geo.  A.  Smith" — ^lately  ar- 
rived from  the  United  States — "began. pur  preparation  for 
the  public  duties  of  the  day,  my  thoughts  were  turned  with 
intensity  of  interest  to  my  dear  family  and  flock  in  New 
York.  They  are  indeed  daily  with  me  in  my  contempla- 
tions and  pi-ayers ;  and  it  is  the  frequency  with  which  my 
mind  dwells  upon  every  thing  connected  with  their  temporal 
and  spiritual  well-being,  that  prevents  my  speaking  often  on 
the  subject  in  my  journal ;  for  it  would  fill  all  its  pages  if  I 
were  to  note  the  various  thoughts — sometimes  full  of  hope, 
at  others  checked  by  fear — which,  from  time  to  time,  cheer 
or  depress  me.  The  Lord  grant  that  a  special  blessing  may 
descend  upon  them  in  the  duties  of  this  day." 

After  this  note,  he  attended  morning  service  and  the 
Lord's  supper  at  St.  John's  chapel,  Bedford-row,  and  en- 
joyed a  precious  season  under  the  muiistry  of  his  friend  and 
brother  the  Rev.  B.  W.  Noel.  In  the  evening,  he  went  to 
Longacre  chapel,  and  heard  its  minister,  the  Rev.  Mr.  How- 
ell, a  preacher  of  such  strong  Welsh  accent  and  tone  as  to 
render  it  somewhat  difficult  to  apprehend  the  scope  of  his 
discourse. 

One  of  his  entries  in  the  journal  for  Tuesday,  June  8, 
shows  the  stamp  of  liis  morals  in  matters  of  business,  as  well 
as  in  matters  of  religion.     "  Received  a  letter  to-day,"  he 

writes,  "  from  a  Mr. ,  dated  Derby,  June  7,  in  which 

he  states,  that  a  benevolent  gentleman  in  his  neighborhood 
was  about  to  send  out  to  our  Tract  Society  a  set  of  stere- 
otype plates  of  a  work  about  which  he  had  corresponded 
with  Mr.  Hallock,"  our  secretary,  "  and  inquires  whether  I 
could  take  them  with  me  as  passenger's  baggage,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  heavy  duty  chargeable  upon  them  in  the  United 
States.  If  I  could  do  so,  he  requests  me  to  return  an  imme- 
diate answer.  If  not,  he  says  /  need  not  ivrite.  As  these 
plates  are  unquestionably  dutiable,  and  as  passengers'  bag- 
gage undergoes  the  official  inspection  of  the  custom-house, 
and  I  understand  the  passenger  also  makes  oath  that  he  has 


330  lIEIvlOIU  OF  DR.   MILNOU. 

no  dutiable  articles  among  his  baggage,  even  if  the  act  pro- 
posed were  not  morally  wrong,  I  could  not  accede  to  the 
proposal.  But  1  hold  any  contravention  or  evasion  of  the 
revenue-laws  of  my  country  to  be  morally  wrong ;  and 
therefore,  if  I  could  by  stealth  get  these  plates  to  their  desti- 
nation free  of  duty,  I  would  not :  so  I  returned  no  answer 
to  the  letter." 

His  dirmer  on  Friday,  was  again  with  his  beloved  brother 
of  Islington,  in  company  with  such  men  as  Dr.  Ryder, 
Bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry  ;  Dr.  Sumner,  of  Chester ; 
Lord  Bexley  ;  Sir  George  Grey ;  the  Hon.  Mr.  Ryder,  brother 
to  the  bishop  ;  Zachary  Macauley ;  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pearson, 
author  of  the  Life  of  Archbishop  Leighton ;  and  Mr.  McH- 
vaine.  After  dinner,  the  company  proceeded  to  attend  the 
anniversary  of  the  Islington  Auxiliary  Church  Missionary 
Society,  which  drew  together  a  crow^ded  assemblage  of  the 
inhabitants,  to  listen  to  several  truly  interesting  addresses. 
The  spirit  which  pervaded  the  whole  proceedings  of  the 
afternoon  and  evening,  was  so  sweetly  Christian  as  to  prompt, 
at  the  close  of  his  journal  for  the  day,  the  brief,  but  emphatic 
entry,  "  Tlih  Avas  a  day  of  as  much  pure,  rational,  and  relig- 
ious enjoyment,  as  any  that  I  have  spent  in  England.  God's 
name  be  praised." 

Mr.  "Wilson's  influence  at  Islington  must  indeed  have 
been  as  blessed  as  it  was  "unbounded."  On  Saturday 
morning,  after  having  spent  another  night  wdth  his  kind 
entertainer.  Dr.  Milnor  went  through  the  buildings  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Institution  at  Islington,  of  which  he 
says,  "  There  are  now  under  instruction  in  this  school  twenty- 
seven  students — the  buildings  will  accommodate  forty-five — 
taught  by  Mr.  Pearson,  professor  of  divinity  ;  Mr.  Ayre,  son- 
in-law  of  Legh  Richmond,  professor  of  classical  learning ; 
and,  for  four  months  hi  each  year,  by  Mr.  Lee  of  Cambridge, 
as  professor  of  oriental  languages.  The  object  of  this  estab- 
lishment is,  the  preparation  of  pious  young  men  of  good 
talents,  who  consider  it  their  duty  to  devote  themselves  to 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND).  331 

the  work  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  heathen.  It  has 
ah'eady  sent  out  some  excellent  missionaries  ;  and  I  pray  God 
that  it  may  become  a  mighty  engine  in  the  destruction  of 
idolatry,  and  in  the  extension  of  Christ's  kingdom,  especially 
in  the  East. 

"  Besides  a  short  but  pleasant  interview  with  Mr.  Pear- 
son, we  had  the  pleasure  of  being  introduced  to  the  amiable 
and  pious  daughter  of  the  late  Mr.  Richmond,  whose  letter 
in  the  memoir  of  her  father's  life  has  excited  so  much  inter- 
est. She  informed  us  that  the  family  have  it  in  contempla- 
tion to  publish  a  volume  of  his  papers,  and  a  memoir  of  his 
httle  son  Wilberforce  which  he  had  not  completed  at  the 
time  of  his  death. 

"  We  were  desirous  of  knowing  the  present  state  of  Mr. 
Richmond's  late  parish.  Mr.  Ayre  told  us  that  the  parish 
church,  which  used  to  overflow  with  worshippers,  had  not 
now  in  general  a  congregation  of  more  than  thirty  persons ; 
the  bulk  of  the  population  attending  at  two  dissenting  chap- 
els. The  religious  views  of  the  new  rector  are  directly  oppo- 
site to  those  of  Mr.  Richmond  ;  and  he  consequently  not  only 
dissatisfies  them  with  his  preaching,  but  refuses  to  give  them 
a  curate  of  evangelical  feelings  and  views.  Yet  he  treats 
Mr.  Ayre,  when  he  goes  to  Turvey,  with  complaisance ; 
mvites  him  to  preach  ;  expresses  approbation  of  his  sermons ; 
and  evinces  particular  pleasure  at  the  large  congregations, 
which,  on  such  occasions,  assemble ;  and  when  the  last 
chapel  was  dedicated,  he  insisted  on  entertaining  the  dissent- 
ing ministers  in  attendance,  and  expressed  a  hope  that  the 
blessing  of  God  would  attend  their  undertaking." 

"  At  two  o'clock,"  he  proceeds,  "  I  took  coach  for  Stoke- 
Newington,  where  I  was  engaged  to  dine  with  William 
Allen,  that  leading  member  of  the  society  of  Friends,  so 
well  knowTi  both  as  a  man  of  science  and  as  a  philanthropist. 
He  has  a  beautiful  retreat ;  the  'New  river'  running  in  front 
of  his  house,  and  the  rear  being  adorned  with  a  fine  velvet 
lawn,  a  delightful  garden,  a  spacious  hot-house  for  his  large 


332  MEMOIR  OF  DH.  MILNOR. 

collechon  of  exotics,  and  an  observatory,  with  a  telescope  for 
his  astronomical  observations. 

"  1  was  glad  to  meet  there  that  singularly  benevolent 
female,  Hannah  Kilham,  who  has  compiled  several  books  on 
an  original  j)lan,  for  the  instruction,  in  their  own  language, 
of  the  WoUoiij  or  Jolloif  tribe  of  negroes,  at  and  near  tSierra 
Leone.  She  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  language  from 
natives  brought  to  England;  and  then  embodied  her  infor- 
mation in  several  elementary  works,  designed  to  teach  the 
Jolloifs  both  their  own  and  the  English  language."  Hannah 
Kilham  had  visited  Sierra  Leone  twice  ;  aiid  though  she  had 
nearly  fallen  a  victim  to  the  chmate,  intended  to  make  a 
third  visit,  and  if  possible,  extend  her  travels  to  Liberia,  with 
a  view  to  prepare  herself  for  writing  similar  books  in  the 
Bassa  language. 

"  III  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  besides  presenting  me 
with  several  pamphlets,  of  which  he  is  the  author,  Mr.  Allen 
communicated  to  me  his  plan  of  domestic  colo?iies,  by  the 
establishment  of  which  he  would  supersede  the  necessity  of 
emigration  among  the  poorer  classes.  His  plan  is,  to  give 
them  agricultural  emplojTnent,  by  assigning  to  each  family 
a  small  portion  of  land  at  a  moderate  rent ;  they  undertaking 
to  cultivate  it  according  to  a  prescribed  method,  insuring  the 
largest  product  at  the  smallest  expense.  Besides  the  httle 
book  which  he  has  published,  entitled,  '  Colonies  at  Home,* 
he  has  exemplified  his  system  on  a  farm  of  his  own,  at  Lhid- 
field,  forty  miles  from  London.  This  he  has  divided  into 
little  farms  of  five  acres  each,  and  smaller  lots  of  an  acre 
and  a  quarter,  on  which  are  erected  small  cottages  ;  and  in 
the  vicinity  a  common  school  for  the  education  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  cottagers,  who,  if  I  remember  rightly,  pay  each 
a  small  sum  per  week  ibr  the  instruction  of  each  child.  Mr. 
Allen  urged  me  to  visit  his  establishment,  which  I  regret  it 
will  not  be  in  my  power  to  do  before  1  leave  England  for  the 
continent." 

Tliis  visit  to  the  philanthropist  of  Stoke-Newington  had 


MISSION   TO  ENGLAND.  333 

wellnigli  proved  fatal  to  the  rector  of  St.  George's  ;  for, 
immediately  after  the  foregoing  entry  in  hig  journal,  he  writes 
thus  : 

*'  I  have  reason  to  be  very  thankful  to  the  special  provi- 
dence of  a  gracious  God,  by  which  my  life  was  preserved  this 
evening  under  circumstances  w^hich  put  me  in  the  utmost 
peril  of  its  loss.  A  servant  was  sent  to  take  places  in  the 
London  coach  for  Dr.  Pennock  of  Philadelphia  and  myself,  at 
seven  o'clock ;  but  he  returned  with  an  answer  that  all  the 
inside  seats  were  taken.  We  therefore  concluded  to  r  ie  out- 
side. When  the  coach  came  to  the  door,  it  appeared  that 
one  inside  seat  v/as  still  vacant,  but  I  declined  taking  it,  as 
that  would  separate  me  from  Dr.  Pennock.  While  he  was 
taking  leave  of  Mr.  Allen  I  attempted  to  mount  the  rear  out- 
side seat,  which  accommodates  two,  and  is  conveniently  sep- 
aiuted  from  the  other  passengers.  When  I  reached  the 
entrance  to  the  seat,  I  found  it  too  confined  for  me  to  pass 
through  without  turning  sideways.  In  attempting  this,  I 
was  obliged  to  let  go  my  right  hand  hold  ;  as  I  did  so,  my 
left  hand  gave  way,  and  I  fell  immediately  to  the  ground  on 
my  back,  a  distance  often  feet.  I  was  unable  to  rise  with- 
out assistance,  and  was  conveyed  into  the  house,  w'hen  it  was 
ascertained  that  I  had  broken  no  limb,  nor  received  any  ma- 
terial contusion.  I  was,  however,  most  dreadfully  strained 
in  my  back  and  chest.  I  resisted  the  importunity  of  the 
kind  family  to  remain  durhig  the  night ;  and,  getting  into 
the  coach,  rode  in  great  pain  to  town.  On  my  arrival,  I  sent 
for  a  physician  in  the  neighborhood,  who  took  from  my  arm 
twenty-two  ounces  of  blood,  prescribed  some  medicine,  and 
recommended  that  my  back  and  chest  be  rubbed  with  opo- 
deldoc. With  the  assistance  of  my  friend  Mr.  Smith,  tliis 
was  done  ;  but  I  passed  a  most  painful  night." 

"Sunday,  June  13. — Found  myself  unable  to  rise  with- 
out assistance,  my  back  and  chest  being  in  such  a  state  as 
obliged  me  to  keep  as  still  as  possible.  I  w^as  to  hav«  taken 
a  family  dinner  to-day  with  our  ambassador,  Mr.  McLane ; 


334  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   IIILNOR. 

but  I  sent  an  apology,  and  endeavored  to  improve  my  soli- 
tude by  reading,  meditation,  and  prayer." 

"Monday,  June  14. — I  have  passed  an  almost  sleepless 
night,  and  am  this  morning  in  much  pain.  We  liad  intend- 
ed to  leave  London  this  morning  for  Brighton,  and  thence 
proceed  to  the  continent ;  but  my  situation  has  compelled  us 
to  abandon  that  intention.  Endeavored,  though  with  much 
difficulty,  to  prepare  some  dispatches  for  America.  Last 
evening  had  been  unavoidably  employed  until  a  late  hour  in 
correcting  proofs  of  very  brief  sketches  of  my  addresses  at 
several  anniversaries,  to  be  inserted  in  the  Christian  Regis- 
ter, an  annual  publication  of  the  proceedings  of  the  public 
religious  meetings.  Wer^t  to  bed,  worn  out  with  fatigue, 
and  suffering  exceedingly  with  bodily  pain.  Slept  only  three 
or  four  hours  during  the  night ;  but  hope  I  had  no  feelings 
but  those  of  gratitude  to  God  that  matters,  after  such  a  fall, 
were  not  far  worse." 

"  Tuesday,  'June  15. — E-ose  in  considerable  pain,  and  so 
stiff  as  to  be  unable  to  walk  but  with  great  uneasiness. 
Wrote  notes  of  apology  to  the  Rev.  Henry  Raikes,  and  Joshua 
Bates,  Esq.,"  excusing  liimself  from  engagements  ;  "it  being 
our  design,  if  I  am  able  to  go  by  coach  to  the  steamer  to- 
morrow morning,  to  take  our  leave  of  London  for  Calais. 
This  change  of  route  is  induced  by  the  hope  that  rest  on 
board  the  steamer  will  so  far  recruit  my  health  as  to  enaUe 
me  to  bear  the  subsequent  journey  to  Paris.  Was  laboriously 
engaged  in  various  matters  necessary  to  be  attended  to,  before 
taking  my  departure  from  London,  and  went  to  bed  again 
perfectly  worn  down  by  fatigue." 

'  Wednesday,  June  16. — Contrary  to  my  exjjectation, 
God  has  graciously  favored  me  with  a  comfortable  night's 
rest ;  and  though  still  very  stiff'  and  sore,  I  have  ventured  to 
take  coach  to  the  steamer  for  Calais." 


VISIT   TO  FRANCE.  335 


SECTION   lY.- 


Dr.  Milnor's  chief  object  in  visiting  Paris,  was  to  engage 
an  instructor  for  the  New  York  Asyhim  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb ;  but  his  passage  to  Calais  came  as  near  putting  an 
end  to  this  and  all  his  other  designs,  as  his  late  Saturday 
evening's  attempt  to  mount  the  rear  outside  seat  of  Stokc- 
Newington  coach  for  London.  The  first  note  in  his  journal 
after  entering  the  steamer,  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  Thames  was  crowded  with  vessels  of  all  descrip- 
tions ;  so  that  if  the  habit,  for  weeks  past,  of  passing  in 
coaches  and  cabs  through  defiles  not  much  broader  than  the 
carriage  itself,  had  not  familiarized  me  with  the  seeming 
danger,  I  should  have  wondered  how  a  steamer  could  possi- 
bly make  her  way  in  safety  through  such  a  throng.  This, 
however,  she  would  have  done,  had  not  a  collier  vessel,  some 
distance  ahead,  unexpectedly  veered  round  so  as  to  bring  her 
bowsprit  directly  across  our  narrow  passage.  The  captain 
of  our  boat  immediately  reversed  the  engine,  at  the  same 
time  hailing  the  collier  to  turn  his  bowsprit  out  of  our  way. 
He  did  not,  however,  and  it  carried  away  the  shrouds  of  our 
hind-mast ;  when,  very  unexpectedly,  as  soon  as  the  bow- 
sprit came  in  contact  with  it,  the  mast  itself  gave  way,  and 
fell  across  the  after-deck.  Messrs.  Mcllvaine  and  Smith  and 
myself  were,  at  the  moment,  standing  within  a  foot  or  two 
of  the  mast.  They  sprang  to  the  right  far  enough  to  escape 
it,  and  it  fell  to  the  left  of  me.  As  it  fell,  I  turned  round, 
and  saw  it  crush  several  of  the  passengers,  and  knock  one 
boatman  overboard  and  several  hats  into  the  water.  The 
boatman  knocked  overboard  was  saved  without  much  injury ; 
but  another,  on  whom  the  end  of  the  mast  fell,  was  killed, 
and  the  wife  of  Admiral  Rouse  was  taken  up  senseless.  She 
bled  excessively,  and  at  length  revived  sufficiently  to  be  put" 
into  a  boat  and  taken  ashore.  The  agony  of  her  husband, 
and  that  of  a  brother  of  the  deceased  boatman,  were  inde- 


336  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

scribable.  One  other  lady  was  mucli  injured  ;  but  several 
of"  the  passengers,  who  I  thought  were  crushed  beneath  the 
mast,  were  m  fact  uninjured,  having  merely  crouched  be- 
neath its  descent,  which  was  arrested  by  the  companion-way. 
Thus  the  result,  melancholy  as  it  was,  proved  more  favor- 
able than  we  anticipated.  Melancholy  indeed  was  it  for  the 
poor  man  so  suddenly  called  into  eternity,  if  unprepared  for 
the  awful  change.  It  was  a  consideration  of  most  serious 
import,  as  well  as  of  grateful  acknowledgment,  that  within 
a  very  few  days,  I  should  have  been  twice  exposed  to  immi- 
nent peril  of  death,  and  yet  have  been — I  pray  G  od  it  may 
be  for  some  good  purpose — twice  preserved." 

They  had  a  smooth  passage  across  the  channel,  and  reach- 
ed Calais  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  of"  the  same  day 
on  which  they  left  London,  and  Paris  at  ten  o'clock  the  Fri- 
day evening  following  ;  noticing  only  the  ordinary  features  of 
the  country  as  they  passed,  and  the  mendicity  which  to  such 
a  great  extent  prevails.  Dr.  Milnor  writes,  "  Whenever  the 
diligence  stopped,  even  at  night,  we  were  assailed  by  beggars. 
The  cry  everywhere  was,  '  Ah  I  pauvre  miserable  I  Mon- 
sieur, quelque  cho.se  I  tres  miserable  I'  At  every  hill,  Avhere 
the  slow  progress  of  the  vehicle  admitted  importunity,  we 
were  followed  by  old  men,  women,  and  children.  This  arises 
from  the  fact,  that  m  this  country  no  public  provision  is  made 
for  the  poor." 

On  Saturday,  June  19,  the  travellers  took  an  exterior 
view  of  Paris,  Dr.  Milnor  closing  his  brief  journal  for  the  day 
with  the  following  note  :  "I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to 
describe  particularly  all  the  public  places  which  we  have 
seen,  as  this  is  already  done  by  so  many  travellers,  and  far 
better  than  1  can  do  it  from  such  casual  observation."  The 
spirit  of  this  remark  will  apply  to  most  of  his  journal  while 
in  France.  We  shall  not  therefore  attempt  minutely  to  fol- 
low his  course  in  this  country.  A  few  of  his  notes,  howovor, 
are  worth  preserving. 

Returning  from  a  third  Protestant  service  ou  Sunday, 


VISIT  TO  FHANCE.  337 

June  20,  he  passed  the  Catholic  church  of  St.  Roch  ;  and  as 
it  was  still  open,  evidently  for  some  public  service,  he  enter- 
ed, and  had  an  opportunity  of  vi^itnessing  a  most  gorgeous 
exhibition  of  the  ritual  of  the  Romish  church,  in  "the  Fete 
Dieu."  After  describing  a  scene  in  which  at  least  sixty 
performers  were  engaged,  and  which  was  closed  by  a  well- 
dressed  lady  going  round  and  soliciting  from  each  an  offering 
"  pour  repose" — or  for  redeeming  souls  out  of  purgatory — he 
gives  utterance  to  his  feelings  in  the  following  strain  : 

"  Now,  in  all  this  parade  of  worship,  in  this  superb 
church  maintaining  such  a  retinue  of  ecclesiastical  function- 
aries, and  lasting  from  an  early  hour  ui  the  morning  till  after 
nightfall,  not  one  word  of  edification  was  addressed  to  the 
assembled  multitude ;  but  the  whole  was  conducted  in  a 
language  unknown  to  by  far  the  greater  part,  and  with  all 
the  idle  pageantry  of  heathenism.  0  when  shall  *  Babylon 
the  great,  the  mother  of  harlots  and  abominations  of  the 
earth,'  be  destroyed?  Hasten  this  event,  0  Lord,  in  thy 
time." 

In  his  many  wanderings  about  Paris,  he  once  found  him- 
self in  the  vaults  beneath  the  Pantheon,  where  he  observed 
a  remarkable  phenomenon.  "  There  is,"  says  he,  "  in  these 
vaults,  a  most  wonderful  echo.  Standing  at  the  end  of  one 
of  the  passages,  it  responded,  not  as  usual  the  last  word  of  a 
sentence,  but  the  whole,  as  articulately  as  we  ourselves 
uttered  it.  Our  attendant,  striking  the  skirt  of  his  coat  with 
a  ratan,  produced  a  sound  like  near  and  very  loud  thunder, 
and  by  some  variation  of  his  strokes,  the  effect  of  the  loud 
firing  of  cannon.  A  part  of  us  remaining  at  this  spot,  and 
the  remainder  going  off  in  the  windings  of  the  passage  to  a 
distance  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  feet,  we  could  converse 
together  in  a  whisper,  and  even  the  rubbing  of  the  hand  on 
the  coat-sleeve  could  be  heard  at  the  same  distance."  A  part 
of  this  description  reminds  us  of  such  worship  as  he  had 
before  witnessed  at  the  church  of  St.  Roch.  So  far  as  the 
efiect  of  such  worship  on  the  multitude  is  concerned,  it  is  but 

Mem.  Milnor.  1 5 


338  MEMOIR   OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

ecJio  in  dark  vaults  artificially  lighted,  and  imposingly  rever- 
berating upon  wondering  ears  the  rattle  of  ratans  and  the 
rustling  of  coat-sleeves. 

On  Tuesday,  June  22,  Dr.  Milnor  called  on  several  gen- 
tlemen for  the  purpose  of  delivering  letters  of  introduction, 
most  of  whom  were  at  home  and  received  him  courteously. 

"  Professor  KiefTer,"  he  remarks,  "  received  me  in  his 
library  with  great  kindness,  and  tendered  me  any  service  in 
his  power  during  my  stay  in  Paris.  My  valet  acted  as  inter- 
preter, the  professor,  though  able  to  read  Enghsh,  not  ven- 
turing to  speak  it.  He  handed  me  the  last  monthly  extracts 
of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society ;  pointed  to  my 
address,  which  he  was  so  kind  as  to  say  he  had  read  with 
great  pleasure,  and  added,  he  was  delighted  to  hear  of  the 
resolution  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  pledging  a  general 
supply  of  the  sacred  Scriptures — a  measure  which  they  find 
it  difficult  to  accomplish  among  the  scattered  Protestants  of 
France.  I  was  very  favorably  impressed  with  the  piety  and 
meekness  of  this  distinguished  scholar  and  Christian." 

Wednesday,  June  23d,  after  walking  till  his  feet  were 
sore,  he  says,  "  Both  my  friend  Mcllvauie  and  myself  find 
a  great  vacuum  here,  wliich  we  did  not  feel  in  London. 
There,  though  we  occupied  a  part  of  the  time  in  seeing  what 
was  curious  and  novel,  we  yet  had,  almost  daily,  the  associ- 
ation and  converse  of  the  pious ;  something  to  relieve  that 
secularity  of  feeling  to  which  the  mind  is  prone.  But  here, 
we  are  deprived  of  that  enjoyment.  We  endeavor  to  supply 
its  place  as  well  as  we  can,  by  uniting  regularly,  every  morn- 
ing and  evening,  in  reading  the  Scriptures,  religious  conver- 
sation, and  prayer,  in  our  little  parlor." 

On  Sunday,  he  heard  Bishop  Luscomb  preach  in  the 
morning ;  and  in  the  afternoon  preached  for  him,  in  the 
church  of  the  Oratoire.  At  five  o'clock,  he  dined  with  the 
bishop,  "  whose  easy,  unconstrained  hospitality,  and  inter- 
esting conversation,  detained  his  guests  till  between  nine  and 
ten."     "  He  is/'  says  Dr.  Milnor,  "  a  very  hiofh  churclniian, 


VISIT   TO  FRANCE.  339 

but — thougli  to  be  tolerated  in  England  for  the  present,  as  a 
necessary  evil — strongly  opposed  to  the  ^ynion  of  church  and 
state.  He  has  had  considerable  epistolary  discussion  with 
the  bishop  of  London,  respecting  the  claims  of  the  latter  to 
jurisdiction  over  all  English  Episcopal  churches  in  foreign 
countries.  The  claim  he  deems  to  be,  as  it  certainly  is,  pre- 
posterous, when  applied  to  churches  not  situated  hi  British 
colonies .  or  provinces ;  but  for  peace'  sake,  and  to  secure  a 
certain  pecuniary  aid  which  the  government  affords  these 
churches,  he  has  so  far  acquiesced  in  the  claims  of  the  bishop 
of  London  as  to  grant  licenses  to  ministers,  subject  to  his 
approbation,  which  is  always,  as  a  matter  of  course,  accord- 
ed. Almost  all  the  Episcopal  churches  in  France  and  the 
Netherlands,  have  acknowledged  the  episcopal  superintend- 
ence of  Bishop  Luscomb.  Mr.  Way's  chapel,  in  the  Hotel 
Marbosuf,  which  is  his  private  property,  forms  a  somewhat 
galling  exception,  as  his  congregation  embraces  some  of  the 
most  respectable  Episcopalians  in  Paris.  Our  American 
ambassador's  family  attend  that  chapel,  because  they  prefer 
the  more  evangelical  style  of  preaching  which  prevails  there, 
as  well  as  its  more  agreeable  situation.  Perhaps,  too,  eti- 
quette may  interpose  some  objection  to  an  attendance  on  the 
morning  service  at  the  British  embassy  ;  and  the  Oratoire  is 
neither  a  pleasant  church,  nor,  for  the  English  and  American 
population,  conveniently  situated." 

Having  recently  suffered  from  a  slight  access  of  gout,  he 
indiscreetly  took  a  pedestrian  excursion  on  Monday  to  the 
celebrated  cemetery  Pere  la  Chaise.  "  The  state  of  my  foot," 
he  observes,  '*  was  not  improved  by  our  protracted  walk 
through  those  beautiful  grounds.  We  returned  very  much 
fatigued  ;  but  being  under  an  engagement  to  spend  the  even- 
ing at  the  house  of  our  ambassador,  Mr.  Rives,  we  repaired 
thither,  and  were  very  kindly  and  unostentatiously  received 
and  entertained  by  him  and  his  excellent  lady.  I  met  there 
M.  Serrurier  and  his  lady,  whom  I  had  known  in  Washing- 
ton as  the  ambassador  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon  to  the  gov- 


340  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

emment  of  the  United  States.  Madame  Serruricr  was  then 
only  seventeen  years  of  age.  She  is  still  a  beautiful  woman, 
in  the  bloom  of  life  ;  but  he  is  so  much  altered  that  I  should 
not  have  known  him.  It  seemed  to  be  agreeable  to  him  to 
have  met,  thus  incidentally,  with  an  American  acquaintance ; 
for  he  professed  to  remember  me,  though  so  many  years  had 
passed.  He  made  numerous  inquiries  about  men  and  things 
in  Washington,  and  our  country  generally ;  with  which,  by 
the  by,  he  showed  himself  more  familiar  than  most  of  the 
gentlemen  wath  whom  I  conversed  in  England.  I  suffered, 
the  whole  evening,  violent  pain  in  my  foot,  but  made  no 
complaint ;  though,  upon  taking  my  leave,  I  was  unable  to 
get  to  the  carriage  without  assistance." 

*'  Tuesday  Morning,  June  29. — I  am,  this  morning,  in  a 
state  of  complete  disability  for  locomotion,  and  consequently 
have  to  remain  at  home,  and  that  in  much  pain."  Of  his 
sufl^erings  in  the  evening  he  writes,  the  next  day,  "  My  foot 
was  so  exceedingly  painful  and  sore,  that  I  was  compelled  to 
resort  to  laudanum  ;  and  though  I  took,  in  three  doses,  150 
drops,  yet  I  obtained  no  sleep,  nor  abatement  of  pain,  till 
near  daylight  of  Wednesday,  June  30th."  When  he  awoke, 
however,  he  was  "  greatly  relieved,"  although  his  foot  was 
excessively  swollen  and  tender. 

The  next  three  days  he  spent  in  the  quiet  of  his  room, 
receiving  a  few  visitors,  writing  letters,  and  on  Sunday,  July 
4th,  penning  reflections  on  American  freedom,  and  on  the  lib- 
erty wherewith  the  Son  makes  free. 

On  Monday,  after  receiving  various  visitors,  and  trans- 
mitting sundry  documents  of  business  to  institutions  in  Amer- 
ica, from  which  he  had  brought  commissions,  Dr  Milnor 
dined  with  Mr.  Yaysse,  whose  son  had  engaged  to  go  out  as 
instructor  in  the  New  York  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb.  Five  French  gentlemen,  none  of  whom  understood 
English,  dined  with  him.  Through  his  amiable  interpreter 
Miss  Vaysse,  however,  he  collected  the  substance  of  their 
conversation,  which  was  principally  on  the  "very  critical 


VISIT  TO  FRANCE.  341 

state  of  the  country."  "  The  elections,"  says  his  journal, 
"which  are  now  going  on,  it  is  generally  agreed,  will  termi- 
nate in  the  choice  of  a  majority  of  deputies  of  the  liberal 
party.  This  will  compel  the  king  to  change  his  ministry, 
or  come  to  an  open  rupture  with  the  lower  house  ;  for  it  is 
said,  they  will  withhold  supplies,  unless  their  wishes  are 
complied  with.  The  gentlemen  of  our  circle  at  dinner,  pro- 
fess to  be  inclined,  in  general,  to  the  views  of  the  liberal 
party,  at  least  so  far  as  to  wish  a  change  of  ministers,  as 
the  best  means  of  quieting  the  feelings  of  the  nation.  But 
they  lament  the  violence  of  some  of  the  journals,  and  also 
the  excesses  that  have  taken  place  in,  some  of  the  depart- 
ments ;  and  deprecate  any  direct  opposition  to  the  executive 
government,  as  likely  to  bring  back  the  horrors  of  the  Revo- 
lution. An  old  gentleman  present,  recently  one  of  the  edi- 
tors of  the  Journal  des  Debats,  was  twice  condemned  to  be 
guillotined,  and  once  an  actual  account  of  his  decapitation 
was  published." 

In  truth,  they  were,  without  knowing  it,  on  the  eve  of 
the  historic  "  three  days  "  of  July,  1830 — a  convulsion  which 
heaved  Charles  X.  from  his  throne,  and  placed  upon  the 
brow  of  Louis  of  Orleans  the  crown,  not  of  France,  but  of 
"  the  French." 

Having  described  the  pursuits  and  productions  of  his  five 
fellow-guests,  "  for  all  the  company  were  literary  men,"  Dr. 
Milnor  adds,  "  I  had  a  specimen  of  a  real  French  dinner ; 
and  while  I  was  surprised  at  the  needless  variety  of  unknown 
condiments,  and  the  protracted  use  of  them,  I  was  much 
more  astonished  at  the  immense  quantity  of  food  which  each 
guest  devoured,  and  at  their  copious  libations  of  various  light 
wines.  Our  dinner — the  eating  part  of  it,  I  mean — lasted 
from  seven  till  after  nine  o'clock ;  and  when  the  eating  was 
over,  all  was  over :  for  the  gentlemen  and  ladies  immediately 
retired  together  to  the  drawing-room,  where  a  cup  of  coffee  and 
a  small  glass  of  eau  de  vie — of  the  latter,  of  course,  as  a  tem- 
perance man,  I  did  not  partake — closed  the  evening's  repast." 


342  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

On  Tuesday  he  visited  that  monument  of  the  splendid 
extravagance  of  the  grand  Monarque,  the  palace  of  Ver- 
sailles ;  despatched  various  business  matters ;  and,  with 
regrets  at  being  unable,  in  consequence  of  his  long  confine- 
ment, to  return  the  many  civilities  which  he  had  received, 
addressed  notes  of  apology  to  those  who  had  paid  them. 
Thus  prepared,  he  took  his  departure  from  Paris.  His  re- 
turn course  lay  through  Rouen,  and  by  way  of  Dieppe  to 
Brighton,  on  the  south  coast  of  England.  He  left  Paris, 
Wednesday  the  7  th,  and  reached  Brighton  early  in  the  morn- 
ing of  Saturday,  the  10th  of  July. 


SECTION   V. 

With  his  companions  in  travel,  Mcllvaine  and  Smith,  he 
passed  directly  from  Brighton,  through  Portsmouth,  to  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  and  spent  the  Sabbath  of  the  next  day  at 
Ryde. 

*'  It  was  cheering,"  he  says,  "  on  thia^eautiful  morning, 
after  the  bad  weather,  and  miserable  roads,  and  half-starved 
horses,  and  crazy  carriages,  and  dirty  villages,  of  France,  to 
find  ourselves  in  a  well-constructed  stage-coach,  drawii  by 
elegant  horses,  as  neatly  caparisoned  as  those  of  a  noble- 
man's private  carriage,  over  roads  perfectly  dry  and  smooth, 
through  towns  neatly  built,  and  a  country  richly  variegated 
with  delightful  scenery,  and  studded  with  buildings,  some  of 
beautiful,  and  almost  all  of  comfortable  appearance.  The 
comparison  certainly  places  France  far  behind  England  in 
the  career  of  improvement." 

After  reaching  the  Isle  of  Wight,  he  spent  one  of  his 
most  comfortable  and  heavenly  Sabbaths,  under  the  ministry 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sibthorpe,  and  in  company  with  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Hatchard,  vicar  of  Plymouth ;  and  he  gave,  in  his  jour- 
nal, very  full  notes  of  the  two  sermons  which  the  former 


lliSSiOlS^   TO  ENGLAND.  343 

preached,  and  which  demonstrated  him  to  have  been  at  that 
time  as  far  as  any  man  hving  from  the'tiews  of  Dr.  Pusey 
and  the  church  of  Eome.  His  subsequent  lapse  into  those 
views  forms  one  of  the  most  melancholy  chapters  in  the 
history  of  the  evangelical  men  of  England. 

Speaking  of  his  Sabbath  in  Ryde,  Dr.  Mihior  remarks, 
"  This  Avas  a  delightful  day  to  myself  and  my  friends.  What 
a  contrast  to  the  business,  and  bustle,  and  noise  of  Paris,  the 
quiet  of  this  pleasant  town  and  peaceful  isle ;  to  the  defiling 
superstitions  of  popery,  the  chaste  worship  of  our  church ; 
and  to  the  senseless  pomp  and  pageantry  of  their  corrupt 
and  miserable  forms,  the  pure  gospel  as  preached  by  a  gifted 
minister  of  God  I" 

It  is  well  known  that  one  of  the  very  important  princi- 
ples adopted  for  its  guidance  by  the  American  Tract  Society, 
is  that  of  publishing  no  narrative  tract  which  is  not  sub- 
stantial truth.  One  of  Dr.  Milnor's  objects,  therefore,  in 
visiting  the  Isle  of  Wight,  was  to  verify,  if  it  admitted  of 
verification,  the  descriptive  part  in  the  narrative  of  that  in- 
comparably useful  tract,  the  Dairyman's  Daughter,  by  Legh 
Kichmond ;  as  well  as  that  of  the  Young  Cottager  and  the 
African  Servant,  by  the  same  "almost  hallo w^ed"  pen.  To 
the  Christian  reader,  therefore,  this  part  of  his  journal  as- 
sumes more  than  its  usual  interest,  and  will,  for  this  reason, 
be  more  closely  followed. 

"Monday,  July  12. — The  Rev.  Mr.  Sibthorpe  and  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Hulme  kindly  proposed  to  accompany  us  to-day  on 
a  part  of  our  ride  through  the  island.  They  went  in  a  one- 
horse  vehicle,  and  we  with  a  fine  pair  of  horses  and  an  ex- 
cellent coach,  immediately  after  breakfasting  with  Mr.  Sib- 
thorpe. And  now,  at  the  close  of  our  journey,  I  find  myself 
utterly  incompetent  to  describe  the  scenes  of  natural  gran- 
deur and  beauty  through  which  we  have  this  day  passed.  '  I 
had  often  read  and  heard  of  them  ;  but  the  reality  every 
way  surpassed  the  expectation  which  I  had  formed. 

"  The  town  of  Ryde,  where  we  spent  the  last  two  nights, 


344  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

and  enjoyed  so  sweet  a  Sabbath,  is  opposite  Portsmouth.  It 
is  situated  on  the  side  of  a  hill  of  considerable  elevation,  and 
affords  a  fine  view  of  Portsmouth,  its  celebrated  harbor,  and 
several  other  important  naval  stations  in  its  neighborhood. 
Some  of  the  houses  of  Ryde  are  elegant,  and  present  a  neat 
appearance,  with  great  attention,  on  the  part  of  their  occu- 
pants, to  the  cultivation  in  front  and  around  them  of  trees 
and  shrubbery ;  a  species  of  ornament  so  easy,  and  affording 
so  great  an  addition  to  the  beauty  of  a  dwelling,  that  one 
is  surprised  it  should  be  anywhere  neglected.  Yet,  in  all 
the  villages  which  we  saw  in  France,  the  odor  of  filth  and 
mud  seemed  more  agreeable  to  their  inhabitants  than  that 
of  flowers  ;  and  a  glaring  sunshine,  when  it  could  be  had, 
than  the  relief  which  the  English  think  is  aflbrded  by  over- 
shadowing foliage. 

"  At  the  commencement  of  our  ride,  the  weather  looked 
a  little  inauspicious ;  but  it  soon  cleared  off,  and  became 
very  pleasant,  though  the  temperature  is  exceedingly  cool 
for  the  season.  Our  road  was  not  very  broad,  but  it  was 
smooth  and  winding,  bordered  on  each  side  by  luxuriant 
hedges,  and  often  by  lofty  trees.  Its  serpentine  course  was 
produced  by  its  conforming,  in  a  considerable  degree,  to  that 
of  the  beach,  along  which,  until  we  passed  the  village  of 
Bonchurch,  and  turned  more  inland  towards  Arreton  and 
Newport,  it  principally  lay.  The  circuitous  course  of  the 
road  over  hill  and  dale  sometimes  conducted  us  close  to  the 
water's  side,  and  gave  us  a  full  view  of  the  noble  harbor  of 
Portsmouth,  in  the  first  part  of  our  ride,  and  subsequently 
of  the  great  Atlantic  ;  and  at  other  times,  receding  a  little, 
and  causing  a  temporary  interruption  of  our  prospect  by 
intervening  hills,  it  only  increased  our  delight  at  emerging 
again  to  some  more  extensive  view.  Every  one  knows  how 
a  change  of  position  will  alter  the  appearance  of  a  landscape, 
and  disclose  at  eveiy  turn  new  beauties.  Here  we  enjoyed 
this  pleasure  in  a  high  degree  ;  and  besides  seeing  every 
object  in  a  variety  of  views,  new  scenery,  which  the  pen  of 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  345 

a  Riclimond  could  describe,  though  mine  cannot,  was  con- 
tinually bursting  on  our  sight.  We  noticed  a  beautiful  build- 
ing in  the  form  of  a  castle,  and  of  recent  erection,  the  seat 
of  Lord  Vernon ;  and  another  on  a  lofty  hill,  belonging  to 
Sir  Richard  Simeon ;  and  within  three  miles  of  Ryde,  six 
or  eight  other  country-seats  of  various  architecture,  yet  all 
seeming  to  harmonize  with  the  delightful  and  enchanting 
scene  around. 

'*  Soon  after  passing  Helen's  Green,  a  small  village  of 
neat  cottages,  we  saw  the  tower  of  its  old  church,  on  which 
the  sea  encroached  till  it  was  abandoned  to  ruin,  and  an- 
other was  built  in  a  safer  position.  We  soon  came  to  Brad- 
ing  harbor,  which,  at  high  tide,  forms  a  lake  of  several  miles 
in  extent ;  but  at  low  water,  is  an  uncovered  flat.  The 
tide  flows  in  through  a  narrow  inlet,  which  we  crossed  in  a 
small  boat,  our  carriage  being  taken  over  in  a  larger.  We 
walked  up  the  hill  on  the  side  opposite  to  Bembridge  chapel, 
recently  built  by  a  Mr.  Wise,  and  in  which  an  excellent 
clergyman.  Sir  Henry  Thompson,  officiates.  We  regretted 
our  disappointment  in  not  seeing  the  incumbent,  to  whom 
Mr.  Sibthorpe  was  desirous  of  introducing  us. 

"  We  were  now  approaching  Brading,^  where  Legh 
Richmond  commenced  his  ministry ;  were  passing  through 
the  rich  and  delightful  scenery  which  he  so  tastefully  de- 
scribes ;  and  were  about  to  behold,  and  in  some  instances  to 
press  with  our  footsteps,  those  almost  hallowed  spots,  where 
occurred  the  events,  the  memory  of  which  he  has  perpetu- 
ated in  those  admirable  tracts,  the  Young  Cottager,  the 
African  Servant,  and  the  Dairyman's  Daughter. 

"  We  had  these  invaluable  narratives  with  us,  and  em- 
ployed ourselves  in  reading  such  parts  of  them  as  were 
specially  calculated  to  direct  our  attention  to  the  several 
places  which  he  does  not  name,  but  describes  with  such 

=^  The  journal,  from  this  point  till  the  travellers  reached  Newport, 
was,  soon  after  Dr.  Milnor's  return,  presented  to  the  American  Tract 
Society  as  a  part  of  his  report  to  that  institution. 
15*       * 


34G  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

fidelity  to  nature  that  the  observant  traveller  needs  no  other 
guide  to  point  them  out. 

"  I  am  glad  that  we  can  bear  our  testimony  to  the  ac- 
curacy of  his  descriptions,  because  many  have  supposed  them 
to  be  principally  fancy ;  and  on  this  account,  much  that 
adds  greatly  to  the  interest  of  the  narrative,  and  is  highly 
instructive  in  showing  the  Christian  with  what  religious 
feelings  the  works  of  the  great  Creator  should  be  viewed, 
and  to  what  profitable  use  their  contemplation  may  be  ap- 
plied, has,  in  many  editions  of  them,  been  omitted.  Though 
not  so  intended  by  the  curtailers  of  these  tracts,  the  retrench- 
ment is  yet,  in  my  opinion,  an  injustice  to  their  lamented 
author,  and  an  injury  to  the  narratives  themselves. 

"  On  arriving  at  Brading,  we  drove  directly  to  the  church- 
yard, where  are  interred  the  remains  of  '  Little  Jane,'  the 
young  cottager.  Several  children  were  playing  near  the 
gate  ;  and  I  asked  a  fine-looking  little  girl  if  she  could  show 
us  the  grave  of  Jane.  *  0  yes,'  she  said,  and  advanced  be- 
fore us  as  our  guide.  After  conducting  us  to  the  grave, 
over  which  we  stood  for  some  time  in  silent  but  affecting 
meditation,  she  said  she  would  •  show  us  the  verses  on  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Berry's  tombstone,  tvliat  Jane  had  got  by  heart 
and  repeated  to  Mr.  Richmond.'  *  Well,  my  dear,'  said  I, 
*  the  reading  of  these  verses  helped  Jane  to  become  a  good 
girl  and  to  die  happy,  did  it  not  ?'  She  answered,  '  Yes, 
sir,'  as  she  did  my  next  inquiry,  whether  she  would  try  to 
be  as  good  a  girl,  and  die  as  happy  as  little  Jane. 

"  The  epitaphs  which  little  Jane  committed  to  memory, 
especially  that  on  Mr.  Berry's  tombstone,  wliich  was  proba- 
bly, under  God,  the  means  of  her  first  serious  impressions, 
are  both  pious  and  affecting  ;  and  their  influence  on  the 
mind  of  this  youthful  candidate  for  heaven,  shows  what  sim- 
])le  instruments  the  Holy  Spirit  often  employs  to  accompUsh 
the  conversion  of  the  soul  to  God. 

"  From  the  graveyard  we  went  into  the  church,  a  very 
ancient  structure,  not  less,  the  sexton  assured  us,  than  eleven 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  347 

hundred  years  old.  It  has  been  enlarged  smce  its  first  erec- 
tion, and  is  remarkable  for  nothing  in  its  interior  but  two 
smgular  tombs  with  wooden  effigies  of  the  deceased  ;  several 
plainer,  but  apparently  very  old  monuments  of  stone ;  and 
a  most  helter-skelter  and  inconvenient  arrangement  of  the 
pews.  Its  location,  however,  is  at  once  sequestered^  and 
near  the  village,  above  which  it  is  slightly  elevated.  The 
l^arsonage,  a  comfortable-looking  abode,  is  immediately  ad- 
jacent to  the  churchyard.  From  the  church,  the  view  of 
Brading  Haven,  the  bay  beyond,  the  elevated  hill  on  the 
right,  and  the  sloping  bank  on  the  left,  with  the  other  sce- 
nery described  by  Mr.  Richmond  in  '  The  Young  Cottager,' 
as  seen  from  this  spot,  are  all  just  as  there  represented. 

"  On  our  way  from  Brading  to  Sandown  Bay,  the  pros- 
pects were  variegated  and  pleasing ;  and  as  we  passed  the 
fort,  we  emerged  upon  one  of  the  grandest  views  of  the 
ocean  through  the  bay,  that  we  had  yet  seen.  Here  was 
pointed  out  to  us  the  high  down  which  Mr.  Hichmond  de- 
scribes in  '  The  African  Servant,'  the  perpendicular  cliff  in 
which  it  termmates,  and  the  jutting  rock,  under  which  he 
discovered  and  so  interestingly  conversed  with  his  sable  com- 
panion. Nothing  can  be  more  true  to  nature  than  his  de- 
scriptions, in  that  tract,  of  the  surrounding  scenery.  We 
saw  the  cottage  of  the  celebrated  John  Wilkes,  ui  the  gar- 
den of  which  are  flourishing  several  rosebushes  said  to  have 
been  planted  by  his  own  hands. 

"  We  then  proceeded  to  the  village  of  Shanklin,  consist- 
ing of  a  few  neat  cottages,  and  stopped  at  a  residence  bearing 
nothing  of  a  tavern  aspect,  but  affording  us  the  refreshment 
which  we  needed — some  excellent  cold  roast  beef  and  lob- 
sters. After  lunch,  we  walked  down  to  what  is  called 
Shanklin  Chine,  a  large,  romantic  fissure,  or  chasm,  in  the 
cliff  that  fronts  upon  the  sea.  The  descent  to  the  beach  is 
by  an  ordinary  road  ;  and  then  you  return  through  the  chine 
to  the  village.  No  description  extant  of  this  singular  spot 
is  either  so  beautiful  or  so  minutely  accurate,  as  that  given 


348  MEMOIR  OF  DE.  MILNOR. 

by  Mr.  Richmond  in  '  The  Young  Cottager,'  as  one  of  his 
places  of  soHtary,  rehgious  meditation.  We  occupied  the 
same  *  Uttle  hollow  recess  in  the  cliff,'  from  which  he  sur- 
veyed and  delineated  the  surrounding  scenery.  "We  there 
read  deliberately  his  graphic  description  of  the  various  inter- 
esting objects  that  lay  before  him,  and  could  discern  no  dif- 
ference between  it  and  the  noble  scene  in  actual  view,  save 
that  a  mist  hid  from  us  the  '  towermg  spire'  of  Chichester 
cathedral ;  that  in  these  peaceful  times,  we  beheld  no  *  frigate 
standing  into  the  bay  ;'  and  that  but  a  few  vessels  of  any  size 
happened,  at  that  moment,  to  enliven  the  prospect.  AYe 
lingered  long  upon  and  near  the  beach,  and  then  proceeded 
up  the  chine,  along  the  side  of  which  the  fishermen  have 
cut  a  convenient  footpath,  with  a  resting-place  or  two  by  the 
way,  where  an  interesting  point  of  observation  happened  to 
present  itself.  Several  neat  cottages,  with  small  gardens, 
have  been  built  within  the  fissure,  each  of  which,  while  shel- 
tered from  the  weather  by  its  lofty  sides,  and  embowered 
amid  the  rich  foliage  of  shrubs  and  overhanging  trees,  en- 
joys at  the  same  time  an  extensive  prospect  of  the  sea. 

"  Returning  to  the  village,  we  resumed  our  carriage,  and 
passing  by  the  neat  old  church  of  Shanklin,  came  to  Bon- 
church  village,  quietly  seated  on  what  is  called  '  the  uuder- 
cliff.'"  This,  as  its  name  implies,  is  a  cliff  under  a  cliff. 
For  a  considerable  distance,  the  road  runs  along  the  top, 
and  at  times  near  the  brink  of  one  cliff  which  rises  directly 
above  the  sea ;  while,  for  the  same  distance,  it  runs  along 
the  ha^c  of  another  cliff,  which  rises,  a  few  rods  inland,  per- 
pendicularly above  the  traveller's  head.  The  singular  wild- 
ness  of  this  scene  may  be  judged  from  the  circumstance,  that 
the  upper  chff  towers,  at  some  points,  near  a  thousand  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  ocean.  "  We  got  out  of  the  carriage, 
and  proceeded  along  the  brink,  for  the  sake  of  the  view 
which  it  presented  of  some  exquisite  scenery  not  before  dis- 
closed. Below  the  village,  we  threaded  our  way  down  a 
footpath  to  the  road,  and  got  mto  our  carriage ;  our  course 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  349 

now  lying  up  an  inland  valley,  between  gently  sloping  but 
lofty  hills  on  either  side.  Landscapes^ ^of  peculiar  beauty 
and  variety,  exhibiting  numberless  fields  of  grain,  nearly 
ripe  for  the  harvest ;  herds  of  cattle,  and  flocks  of  sheep, 
with  here  and  there  a  company  of  haymakers,  busily  em- 
ployed, presented  themselves  in  ever-changing  aspects,  as 
we  ascended  or  descended  the  successive  slopes  of  this  de- 
lightful valley. 

"  We  had  long  in  sight,  and  at  length  passed,  at  some 
distance,  the  splendid  seat  and  extensive  park-grounds  of 
Lord  Yarborough,  called  Appuldercomb.  Travellers  have 
given  rapturous  descriptions  of  the  interior,  and  its  rich  collec- 
tions of  paintings  and  sculpture.  Of  these,  we  shall  proba- 
bly never  have  a  sight ;  but  it  was  commended  to  our  notice 
by  circumstances  of  a  very  difierent  kind.  It  was  there  that 
the  sister  of  'the  dairyman's  daughter'  died,  whose  funeral 
Mr.  Richmond  attended,  at  the  request  of  the  latter ;  and  it 
was  there,  that  about  a  week  after,  he  had  his  first  conversa- 
tion with  her  whose  religious  experience,  as  narrated  by  that 
faithful  minister,  has  had  a  more  extensive  influence  hi  the 
world  than  ever  attended  any  similar  publication. 

"  He  gives,  in  '  The  Dairyman's  Daughter,'  a  correct 
account  of  the  situation  and  appearance  of  Appuldercomb, 
and  of  the  surrounding  scenery.  We  saw  '  the  summit  of 
the  hill  adjoining'  the  venerable  mansion,  to  which  he  as- 
cended after  the  visit  just  referred  to  ;  and  the  triangular 
pyramid  of  stones,  near  which  he  sat  down  to  meditate ;  and 
the  magnificent  prospect  which  lay  around  him.  In  full 
view  of  this  elevated  spot,  we  read  his  extended  description, 
and  turned  southward  and  southeastward,  and  northward 
and  Avestward,  and  admired,  as  he  had  done,  the  unequalled 
beauty  of  the  scene.  Certainly  neither  of  us  had  ever  read 
the  descriptive  part  of  '  The  Dairyman's  Daughter '  with  the 
like  interest  and  emotion.  My  feelings  obliged  me  to  resign 
the  book  to  my  companions  ;  and  under  the  various  emo- 
tions excited  by  the  narrative  and  the  scene,  it  was  difficult 


350  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

for  any  of  us  to  prosecute  our  reading  ;  but  with  an  intensity 
of  interest,  we  gazed  upon  the  lovely  prospect  until  it  could 
be  no  longer  seen. 

"  We  now  approached  Arreton,  the  village,  in  the  church- 
yard of  which  lie  interred  the  mortal  remains  of  Elizabeth 
Wallbridge,  the  sainted  daughter  of  the  dairyman.  About 
a  mile  from  it,  we  stopped  before  the  cottage  from  which 
her  soul  ascended  to  its  rest,  and  were  kindly  received  by 
her  surviving  brother,  a  man  now  advanced  in  years,  and 
still  a  resident  in  the  cot  of  his  birth.  He  showed  us  Eliza- 
beth's Bible,  in  which  was  simply  written,  *  Elizabeth  Wall- 
bridge,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  Wallbridge  ;  born 
1771,  died  1801.'  He  also  took  us  up  stairs  into  the  room 
in  which  she  expired.  We  added  our  names  to  a  long  list, 
in  a  book  kept  by  her  brother  for  the  purpose,  and  then 
took  our  leave,  Mr.  Wallbridge  in  a  very  respectful  manner 
thanking  us  for  our  visit. 

"  Our  simplicity  in  finding  satisfaction  in  such  a  visit, 
would  be  a  fruitful  subject  of  derision  to  men  of  the  world  ; 
but  if  they  will  indulge  our  simplicity,  and  we  can  enjoy 
feelings  such  as  these  scenes  excited,  let  them  laugh  :  we 
will  delight  in  every  thing  calculated  to  cherish  the  memory 
of  the  pious  dead. 

"  On  leaving  the  cottage,  our  path  was  the  same  with 
that  over  which  moved  the  funeral  procession  of  the  dairy- 
man's daughter,  in  the  manner  so  affectingly  described  by 
Mr.  Riclmiond.  It  lay  along  a  naYrow  but  excellent  road, 
winding  between  high,  green  hedges,  and  sometimes  under 
an  arch  formed  by  the  trees  on  either  side;  a  lofty  culti- 
vated hill  on  the  right,  and  a  charming  view  of  the  luxuri- 
ant valley  now  and  then  breaking  upon  us  to  the  left.  As 
we  read  the  account  of  tho  solemn  passage  of  the  mourning, 
yet  rejoicing  relatives  and  friends  of  the  deceased,  we  were 
almost  ready  to  realize  its  actual  vision,  and  to  hear  the 
pious  strains  of  melody,  as  they  filled  the  air  and  ascended 
to  the  skies. 


MISSION  TO  ENG-LAND.  351 

"  Thus  prepared,  we  reached  Arreton  church  ;  and  leav- 
ing our  carriage  to  ascend  the  hill  Avitjjout  us,  we  went  to 
the  grave  of  Elizabeth  ;  read  the  beautiful  lines,  which  love 
of  her  character  and  the  recollection  of  her  triumphant 
death  have  caused  to  be  inscribed  on  her  simple  monument ; 
meditated  a  while  on  her  present  glorious  state ;  dropped  a 
tear  of  sympathy  but  not  of  sorrow,  and  silently  retired. 

"  From  this  to  Newport,  our  resting-place  for  the  night, 
we  could  talk  on  none  but  things  connected  v/ith  the  scenes, 
and  incidents,  and  reflections  of  the  day ;  uniting  in  the 
sentiment  that  Paris,  with  all  its  palaces,  and  gardens,  and 
pamtings,  and  statues,  had  afforded  no  such  gratification 
to  our  eyes  as  the  glorious  works  of  God,  on  which  they 
had  dwelt  in  this  enchanting  island  ;  and  none  of  its  multi- 
plied attractions,  such  an  inward  feast  as  the  religious  asso- 
ciations of  this  day's  travel  had  supphed." 

A  sudden  and  unexpected  return  of  Mr.  Mcllvaine's  illness 
prevented  the  party,  for  a  few  days,  from  prosecuting  their 
tour  round  the  island.  In  the  meantime.  Dr.  Milnor  visited 
old  Carisbrook  castle,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Newport,  with 
its  ancient  Roman  well,  and  the  ruins  of  the  chamber  in 
which  the  ill-fated  Charles  I.  was  a  prisoner ;  and  spent  a 
day  in  crossing  over  from  Cowes  to  Southampton,  for  the 
purpose  of  visiting  his  friend  Mrs.  Gilliat,  and  of  obtaining 
letters  from  home,  which  he  had  ordered  to  be  sent  thither 
from  London.  After  a  pleasant  visit  with  his  friend  and  her 
family,  though  without  finding  the  letters  which  he  expect- 
ed, he  returned  to  Newport  on  Thursday,  July  1 5,  the  day 
appointed  for  the  funeral  of  George  IV.  As  his  fellow-trav- 
eller, Mr.  Mcllvaine,  was  still  too  sick  for  journeying,  Dr. 
Milnor  and  his  remaining  companion,  Mr.  Smith,  resolved 
upon  the  western  tour  of  the  Isle  of  Wight.  Accordingly, 
on  Friday  morning,  immediately  after  breakfast,  they  took  a 
carriage,  and  favored  with  a  beautifully  cool  summer's  day, 
set  forth  on  their  pleasant  jaunt. 

"  Our  road,"  says  the  journal,  "lay  through  Carisbrook, 


352  MEMOIE  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

a  villatye  adjacent  to  Newport,  and  remarkable  for  little  save 
the  pJeasantness  of  its  situation,  the  neatness  and  rural  dec- 
orations of  its  dwellings,  and  the  fine  view  which  it  presents 
of  the  venerable  ruin,  Carisbrook  castle,  already  described. 
As  seen  in  passing  along  the  road,  one  has  a  much  higher 
idea  of  the  ancient  importance  of  this  castle  as  a  pla;e  of 
military  defence,  as  well  as  a  much  more  interesting  view 
of  its  ivy-mantled  gateway,  its  lofty  round  towers,  the  frag- 
ments of  its  gray  walls,  in  great  part  buried  in  foliage,  and 
the  elevated  keejJ,  from  which  we  had  enjoyed  so  delightful 
a  survey  of  the  beautiful  country  around  it.  Our  host  at 
Newport  hiformed  us  that  the  mayor  of  that  city  is,  by  im- 
memorial usage,  sworn  into  office  in  the  chapel  of  the  castle. 
The  present  mayor  is  the  clergyman  of  the  church  in  New- 
port, and  1  presume  a  good  officer,  from  the  fact  of  our  host's 
complaimng  of  him  as  '  ruling  the  publicans  of  the  city  with 
a  rod  of  iron.'  One  thing  is  certain,  during  the  time  which 
we  have  spent  in  his  jurisdiction,  there  has  been  every  ap- 
pearance of  the  utmost  quiet  and  order.  We  have  seen  no 
drunken  men,  or  mendicants ;  have  heard  no  profane  lan- 
guage ;  nor  witnessed  the  least  disorder  of  any  kind.  The 
stillness  of  the  place  has  been  very  propitious  to  the  recov- 
ery of  my  sick  friend. 

"We  continued  our  ride  through  the  village  of  Shorwell, 
which  has  a  pretty,  antique  church,  and  near  which  we 
passed  a  cottage  of  the  larger  size,  literally  buried  in  ivy, 
no  part  of  the  building  being  visible,  save  the  doors  and  win- 
dows. It  is  astonishing  with  what  luxuriance  this  plant 
grows  in  England ;  how  it  seems  to  love  stone  waUs ;  and 
how  greatly  it  adds  to  the  picturesque  appearance  of  the 
buildings  which  it  invests. 

"  Soon  afterwards,  a  magnificent  view  of  the  ocean  broke 
suddenly  upon  us,  as  we  cleared  a  high  verdant  bank  by 
which  it  had  hitherto  been  intercepted.  We  passed  through 
the  village  of  Brixton,  in  which,  as  in  Shorwell,  the  princi- 
pal objects  of  interest  were  its  antique  httlc  church  and  its 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  353 

comfortable  cottages  imbedded  in  the  greenest  foliage.  Again 
the  sea  was  hidden  from  view,  and  again  it  appeared  in  all 
its  grandeur,  as  we  passed  over  hill  and  dale  in  this  enchant- 
ing ride  A  little  way  from  Brixton,  we  passed  through  the 
hamlet  of  Mattisone,  lying  at  the  foot  of  a  high  down,  and 
then  through  another,  called  Brooke,  quietly  recessed  in  a 
deep  valley  between  tivo  lofty  downs,  its  church  being  hon- 
ored with  a  more  elevated  site  just  without  the  cluster  of 
cottages  which  shelter  the  worshippers. 

"  After  leaving  Brooke,  our  road,  in  its  continual  wind- 
ings, conducted  us  over  several  very  elevated  tracts,  called 
Shalcombe,  Compton,  and  Afton  downs,  on  which  are  nu- 
merous flocks  of  sheep,  apparently  thriving  on  the  short  pas- 
turage which  these  tracts  afford.  Except  such  parts  of  them 
as  have  been  gradually  brought  under  cultivation,  they  are 
generally  without  tree  or  shrub,  the  soil  being  a  hght  loam 
on  a  substratum  of  chalk.  They  are,  no  doubt,  generally 
susceptible  of  cultivation ;  but  until  thus  improved,  they 
serve  principally  for  sheep-pastures,  and  for  gratifying  trav- 
ellers with  uninterrupted  prospects  of  the  most  varied  and 
extensive  character. 

"  Our  ride  over  Afton  down  brought  us  to  Freshwater- 
gate,  the  inappropriate  name  of  a  very  interesting  spot, 
which  forms  one  of  the  great  objects  of  attraction  to  this  part 
of  the  island.  We  stopped  at  an  inn  upon  the  beach,  and 
the  tide  being  down,  were  able  at  once  to  enter  a  large  cav- 
ern, a  few  hundred  yards  off,  in  the  face  of  a  very  high  cliff. 
Its  principal  opening  towards  the  sea  is  under  a  natural 
archway  thirty  feet  high,  and  about  the  same  width;  and  it 
extends  into  the  rock  above  a  hundred  feet.  There  are  other 
chasms  in  the  vicinity,  of  smaller  dimensions. 

"  To  the  north  from  this  place,  lies  a  range  of  chalky 
cliffs  of  great  height,  often  exactly  perpendicular,  and  some- 
times overhanghig  the  ocean  with  a  terrific  frown.  After 
viewing  the  caves  at  Freshwater-gate,  we  resumed  our  car- 
riage, and  by  a  circuitous  road  of  about  three  miles,  reached 


354  ilEMOlll  OF   LR.  illLNUll. 

the  lighthouse  on  Needles'-point.  This  is  a  singular  prom- 
ontory, extending  from  the  main  body  of  the  island  into  the 
sea,  and  lashed  on  either  side  by  its  waves.  The  Avhole  of 
the  scenery  here  presented  is  truly  grand  and  impressive. 
After  a  full  enjoyment  of  it,  we  returned  to  our  carriage,  and 
proceeded  back  to  the  inn  at  Freshwater-gate,  and  then  re- 
turned to  Newport  by  a  different  road  from  that  travelled  in 
the  morning.  On  this  road,  we  passed  through  a  finely  cul- 
tivated country,  and  in  view  of  many  elegant  mansions,  the 
seats  of  the  nobility  or  gentry  who  spend  part  of  their  time 
on  this  fascinatmg  island." 


SECTION  VI. 

The  party  left  Newport  on  Saturday,  the  17th  of  July, 
and  proceeded  to  Southampton ;  passing  that  exquisitely 
beautiful  ruin,  Netley  Abbey,  standing  near  the  right  shore 
of  Southampton  Water,  about  three  miles  below  the  toAvn. 
That  day,  and  the  succeeding  Sunday,  were  cold,  blustering, 
and  stormy.  In  his  room,  Sunday  morning,  while  the  storm 
was  raging  without,  Dr.  Milnor  thus  writes  : 

"  May  the  Lord  give  me  peace  within,  by  renewed  evi- 
dences of  his  pardoning  love,  and  by  the  communication  of 
larger  measures  of  his  sanctifying  grace.  May  he  graciously 
accept  my  prayers  for  the  dear  family  and  the  beloved  flock 
at  home,  and  make  this  his  hallowed  day  a  blessing  to  their 
souls ;  and  may  he,  by  his  Holy  Spirit,  prepare  me  and  my 
companions  for  a  right  engagement  in  the  solemn  duties  of 
the  sanctuary,  and,  to  use  the  language  of  tliis  day's  collect, 
*  pour  into  our  hearts  such  love  towards  him,  that  we,  loving 
him  above  all  things,  may  obtain  his  promises,  which  exceed 
all  that  we  can  desire,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.'  " 

Monday,  19th,  the  party  rode  to  Winchester,  and  after 
viewmg,  and  confessing  his  inability  to  describe  its  ancient 


MISSION   TO  ENaLAND.  355 

cathedral,  Dr.  Milnor  remarks,  "  We  attended  the  evening 
service  at  three  o'clock,  and  heard  the  chdl:  chant  the  hymns 
and  the  psalter.  The  jDrayers  were  read  in  recitative.  On 
the  whole,  we  plain  American  Episcopalians  found  hut  little 
to  admire,  either  in  the  music  or  in  the  worship  of  this 
splendid  church.  An  anthem,  sung  in  the  course  of  the 
prayers,  might,  so  far  as  the  raiusic  was  concerned,  be  con- 
sidered an  exception." 

From  the  cathedral,  they  went  to  visit  the  famous  Win- 
chester school,  founded  by  William  of  Wykeham,  and  still 
kept  under  the  iron  rule  of  its  founder's  times.  It  dates 
from  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

"  The  school-room,"  says  Dr.  Milnor,  "which  holds  two 
hundred  pupils,  has  a  lofty  ceiling,  but  is  not  only  destitute 
of  all  ornament,  but  mean  and  inconvenient  in  its  arrange- 
ments. Only  a  few  have  the  accommodation  of  a  desk  for 
vrriting.  The  rest  straddle  their  rude  benches,  and  write  on 
little  chests,  brought  from  their  chambers  and  placed  on  the 
bench  before  them.  The  attention  of  the  tyro,  on  entering 
this  school,  will  soon  be  attracted  to  the  ominous  capitals  on 
the  wall,  ornamented  with  the  likeness  of  a  hand- whip, 

"'aut  disce,  aut  discede  : 
Manet  sors  tertia — C^di.'=* 

"  The  play-ground  is  not  large,  and  neither  there,  nor 
anywhere  within  the  close,  are  the  boys  allowed  to  wear 
their  hats.  In  the  open  yard  is  a  reservoir  of  spring  water 
with  half  a  dozen  cocks,  where  the  junior  pupils  perform 
their  ablutions,  and  then  carry  water  in  their  basins  into  the 
chambers  of  their  seniors,  to  whom  they  are  fags  ;  in  other 
words,  menial  servants.  It  is  astonishing,  that  so  brutal 
and  unnecessary  a  practice  should  be  continued ;  or  that 
parents  of  respectability  should  be  willing  to  place  their 
children  under  the  tyranny  of  the  older  pupils,  who  may 
chastise  them  with  stripes,  if  they  disobey. 

*  "Either  learn,  or  leave: 

A  third  lot  remains — be  flogged." 


356  MEMOIR  OF  DE-.  MILNOR. 

"  We  were  shown  the  dormitories.  Several  boys  occupy 
the  same  chamber.  They  have  but  little  of  the  appearance 
of  comfort.  The  boys  are  not  allowed  tea  or  coflee,  their 
breakfast  being  bread  and  beer.  Their  dining-room  is  a 
spacious  apartment,  with  a  very  narrow  table  placed  around 
the  sides ;  and  they  eat  off  of  small  boards  or  trenchers,  each 
about  eight  inches  square.  The  prefects — some  of  the  senior 
pupils  having  that  title — are  allowed  plates,  unless  when 
the  official  visitors  are  present,  and  then  the  trenchers  sup- 
ply their  place.  The  guide  told  us  that  the  pupils  sometimes 
by  stealth  make  tea  and  coffee,  and  provide  other  comforts 
at  their  own  expense,  in  their  rooms ;  and  he  thought  the 
practice  was  rather  winked  at ;  but  if  these  superfluities 
came  under  the  notice  of  their  teachers,  they  were  taken 
away."  Admirable  discipline  for  a  false  theolog}',  breeding 
in  the  young  bone  and  sinew  those  inseparable  concomitants, 
abject  submissiveness  and  Jesuitical  secrecy. 

From  Winchester,  they  passed  through  Salisbury  to  Ex- 
eter. Of  this  city,  the  journal  remarks,  "  Being  the  empo- 
rium of  this  part  of  England,  it  is  a  lively  place,  and  rendered 
more  so  at  present  by  one  of  those  nuisances  and  nurseries 
of  vice,  a  fair.  We  went  this  morning  (Wednesday,  July 
21)  to  the  cathedral  service,  Avhich,  like  that  at  Winchester, 
was  attended  by  only  two  or  three  persons  of  respectable 
appearance,  and  a  few  of  the  poor  brethren  and  sisters,  be- 
sides the  persons  actually  engaged  in  the  services.  These 
were  two  clergymen,  who  divided  the  duty,  six  men-singers, 
and  ten  boys. 

"  It  is  to  me  a  matter  of  surprise  that  so  much  should 
be  thought  of  cathedral  chanting,  on  the  score  of  its  music. 
There  is  such  a  sameness,  such  a  long  reiteration  of  the  same 
cadences,  that  it  tires  the  ear,  and  becomes  fatiguing  to  the 
spirit.  The  fact,  too,  that  these  are  paid  performers,  and 
that  there  is,  in  most  of  them,  an  absence  of  devotional  feel- 
ing, gives  the  whole  an  air  of  formality  and  lip-service,  which, 
notwithstanding  the  solemnity  of  the  place,  very  much  di- 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  357 

minislies  its  effect.  1  suppose  the  thought  will,  by  some,  be 
considered  quite  puritanical.  But  I  could  not  help  wishing 
that  such  noble  structures  as  these  English  cathedrals  might 
be  devoted  to  more  practical  purposes,  and  rendered  more 
subservient  to  the  great  end  of  the  gospel  of  Christ — the 
salvation  of  perishing  sinners.  As  these  daily  services  are 
conducted,  they  approximate  much  too  nearly  the  pageantry 
and  formality  of  the  Romish  church,  and  have  but  little  in 
connection  with  the  interests  of  evangelical  piety." 

"  The  monuments,  ancient  and  modern,  spread  through- 
out this  edifice,  are  numerous.  There  is  one  of  a  prelate, 
who  attempted  to  fast  during  the  whole  of  Lent,  and,  it  is 
said,  actually  did  so  until  the  thirty-eighth  day,  when  he 
died.  An  effigy  on  his  tomb  exhibits  his  appearance  after 
death.  It  is  the  ghastly  figure  of  a  skeleton  I  A  similar 
instance  of  fatal  superstition  is  commemorated  in  the  same 
manner  on  a  tomb  in  Salisbury  cathedral,  though  that  dev- 
otee died  on  the  thirty-first  day.  Q-uery  :  Will  piety  of  in- 
tention in  such  cases  acquit  the  victims  of  the  guilt  of  sui- 
cide ?     Scit  Deus,  non  ego" — [God  knows,  not  I.] 

On  Thursday,  July  22,  the  travellers  left  Exeter,  via 
Tiverton,  Barnstaple,  and  Ilfracombe,  and  along  the  south 
shore  of  Bristol  channel,  to  Bristol  city.  We  give  a  few  of 
Dr.  Milnor's  notes  on  his  passage  through  this  picturesque 
region. 

"  The  road  between  Barnstaple  and  Ilfracombe  is  a  turn- 
pike, cut  at  an  immense  expense,  along  the  side  of  a  hill, 
and  requiring  a  wall  for  its  support,  on  the  lower  side,  almost 
the  whole  distance.  It  passes  along  a  deep  valley  between 
high  hills,  though  at  a  considerable  height  above  the  bottom 
of  the  valley,  following  on  a  perfect  level,  all  the  Aviridings, 
gome  of  them  very  short,  of  the  hill  along  the  side  of  which 
it  pursues  its  devious  course.  In  some  instances,  the  steep 
and  lofty  hills  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley  were  culti- 
vated to  their  very  summits  ;  but  for  many  miles  they  were 
covered  with  fine  plantations  of  forest-trees,  thickly  sot,  and 


3/)8  MEMOIR  OF  DH.  MILNOR. 

their  tops  often  so  uniform  in  height  as  to  resemble  the  sur- 
face of  a  field  of  grass." 

"  In  passing  through  the  English  villages,  one  is  some- 
times amused  with  the  signs  which  they  exhibit.  A  tailor, 
for  instance,  informs  the  public,  that  he  '  makes  all  sorts  of 
ready-made  clothing,'  and  a  grocer,  that  he  is  '  licensed  to 
hrew  and  sell  beer,  spirituous  liquors,  and  tobacco'  " 

"  The  situation  of  Ilfracombe  is  singular.  It  lies  on  the 
Bristol  channel,  embosomed  on  all  sides  by  lofty  hills,  except 
a  narrow  opening  to  the  water,  which  affords  an  entrance 
into  a  sheltered  and  commodious  harbor  for  vessels  of  250 
tons  burden.  It  is  a  natural  basin,  the  only  artificial  im- 
provement being  a  stone  pier,  on  one  side  of  the  entrance, 
running  a  short  distance  into  the  channel,  principally  to  pre- 
vent the  accumulation  of  sand  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor. 
At  low  tide,  as  we  saw  it,  the  recession  of  the  water  leaves 
the  vessels  high  and  dry  on  the  sand. 

"  In  the  circle  of  hills  around  Ilfracombe,  those  lying 
inland  are  loftier  than  those  which  rise  from  the  beach,  and 
afford  delightful  sites  for  dwelling-houses,  commanding  a  full 
view  of  the  whole  interesting  scenery,  and  of  the  channel 
and  ocean  beyond.  Along  the  summit  of  the  chain  of  hills 
which  rise  immediately  from  the  water,  a  path  has  been 
made  which  forms  a  charming  promenade  in  fine  weather 
for  the  visitors  who  resort  to  Ilfracombe — for  Ilfracombe  is 
a  watering-place  of  some  note,  and  the  number  of  taverns 
and  lodging-houses  indicates  that  it  is  not  a  little  frequented. 
Some  of  the  private  residences  on  the  heights  have  a  fine 
appearance,  and  few  finer  than  that  which  was  pointed  out 
as  the  residence  of  Mr.  Bowen,  the  rector  of  the  parish. 

"  The  church,  as  might  be  expected,  occupies  a  very  ro- 
mantic spot.  It  is  on  a  hill,  rather  difficult  of  access  to  the 
aged  and  infirm,  yet  surrounded  by  hills  still  higher  than  its 
own,  which  protect  it  from  storms  and  tempests.  The  safety 
of  its  position  cannot  be  questioned,  for  it  is  said  to  have 
Btood  aheady  for  1 ,200  years.     It  is  a  truly  venerable  struct- 


MISSION  TO  ENOLAND.  359 

Tire,  carefully  kept  in  repair,  and  of  late  greatly  improved  in 
its  interior. 

"  We  left  Ilfracombe  in  a  postchaise  about  mid-day.  As 
we  advanced,  we  were  enveloped  in  a  thick  fog,  until  we 
approached  Linton,  the  scenery  around  which  we  were  par- 
ticularly desirous  of  seeing.  It  now  broke  away,  and  per* 
mitted  us,  as  we  descended  without  intermission  a  wind- 
ing slope  of  at  least  two  miles,  to  survey  a  most  romantic 
succession  of  ever-varying  views.  Immense  hills,  some  at 
fording  pasturage  for  innumerable  sheep,  others  cultivated 
to  the  very  tops  ;  vales  of  enchanting  beauty,  and  occasion- 
ally the  most  picturesque  clusters  of  buildings  at  the  bottom 
of  the  deepest  glens,  or  on  the  steep  sides  of  the  adjacent 
acclivities,  as  our  road  turned,  now  in  one  direction,  now  in 
another,  attracted  our  admiration.  Suddenly,  a  full  view 
of  the  channel,  presenting  here  the  appearance  of  a  sea, 
broke  upon  us  through  a  deep  valley  on  our  right,  at  the 
termination  of  which,  and  close  to  the  beach,  is  seated  the 
little  town  of  Lynemouth.  Its  appearance,  from  the  vast 
height  which  we  occupied  above  it,  was  pleasing  as  it  was 
singular.  Several  of  its  white  houses,  being  new  and  of 
very  tasteful  construction,  added  to  its  beauty.  A  turn  to 
the  left  brought  us,  by  a  short  ascent,  to  the  town  of  Lin- 
ton ;  the  position  of  which,  notwithstanding  our  long  descent 
towards  it,  was  still  high  above  the  water,  and  commanded 
an  almost  boundless  prospect.  It  has  a  small  church  :  and 
from  the  churchyard,  the  view  of  Lynemouth  beneath  ;  the 
wide  expanse  of  water  in  front ;  the  hills  and  vales,  with 
their  various  appendages,  on  either  side ;  and  the  stupen- 
dous elevations  in  the  rear,  formed  an  aggregate  of  beau- 
ties and  sublimities  such  as  is  rarely  found  concentrated  at 
"the  same  spot. 

"  We  dined  at  Linton,  and  then,  with  fresh  postchaise 
and  horses,  proceeded  to  Minehead,  where  we  had  arranged 
to  spend  the  night.  After  travelling  over  a  good  road,  across 
an  elevated  tract,  at  one  of  our  turns  the  villao:e  of  Porlocif 


360  MEMOIR  OF  BR.  MILNOR. 

was  unexpectedly  seen  reposing  at  the  very  bottom  of  an 
exceedingly  deep  valley  beibre  us,  amid  fields  of  the  most 
flourishing  grass  and  grain.  They  reminded  me  of  the  gar- 
den at  Versailles.  It  seemed  at  so  small  a  distance  from  us 
as  to  make  it  impossible  to  reach  it,  save  by  an  almost  per- 
pendicular descent.  And  steep  enough  it  was  ;  but  the  road, 
winding  as  the  surface  of  the  hill  allowed,  first  in  one  direc- 
tion and  then  in  another,  proved  to  be  five  or  six  times  as 
long  as  one  would  have  imagined,  and  brought  us  in  safety 
to  the  village.  This,  however,  on  entering  its  narrow  street 
of  low  and  mean  habitations,  lost  all  the  beauty  which  it 
appeared  to  have  from  the  heights  above.  We  stopped  a 
moment  at  its  best,  though,  at  the  best,  its  miserable  inn. 
I  asked  the  landlord  if  the  church,  at  some  distance  from 
his  house,  was  a  handsome  one.  '  Why,  much  like  the 
town,'  he  replied ;  '  it's  very  old :  they  say  how  it's  three 
hundred  years  old,  but  I  can't  believe  any'  house  would 
stand  that  long.'  'Why,  my  friend,'  I  observed,  'they  say 
the  church  at  Ilfracombe  is  twelve  hundred  years  old.' 
'Ah,'  he  answered,  'I  was  burn  (born)  at  Ilfracombe,  but 
not  so  long  ago  as  that.'  I  inquired  about  the  minister  of 
Porlock.  '  Why,  he  sarves  another  parish  about  two  miles 
oft',  and  the  church  has  a  tower  and  a  bell ;  but  they're  a 
queer  sort  of  people.  In  the  winter  it's  too  co-aid  to  ring, 
and  in  the  soomer  it's  too  warm  ;  and  so  they  don't  often 
have  sarvice.'  Finding  my  host  so  intelligent  and  commu- 
nicative, I  inquired  of  him  about  a  tower  on  one  of  the  hills 
oi  the  vicinity  of  Porlock,  which  is  said  to  be  of  great  height, 
but  was  hid  from  our  view  by  the  clouds  and  mists  around 
it.  'He  had  never  measured  it,'  he  said,  'but  he  was  told 
it  was  as  high  as  I  had  stated.'  I  asked  if  it  was  built  of 
stone ;  to  which  he  sagely  answered,  '  He  believed  it  was 
built  of  stone,  and  such  like  co77ibustibles' 

"  Saturday,  July  24. — As  we  approached  Bristol,  the 
embellished  residences  of  the  wealthy  multiplied,  and  pre- 
sented a  constant  succession  of  objects  deserving  of  notice. 


MISSION  TO  ENOLAND.  361 

We  came  iii  sight  of  Bristol  while  it  was  yet  six  miles  dis- 
tant, lying  in  a  valley  far  below  the  eminence  from  which 
we  beheld  it ;  our  road  being  one  almost  continuous  descent 
until  we  entered  its  crowded  streets.  The  election  of  mem- 
bers to  Parliament  being  at  hand,  the  city  was  in  a  great 
bustle,  owing  to  the  canvassing  of  the  candidates.  One  of 
the  streets  was  rendered  impassable  by  a  throng  of  people 
listening  to  a  speech  from  one  of  these  solicitors  of  popular 
favor.  We  concluded  that  a  residence  at  Clifton,  two  miles 
from  Bristol,  would  be  more  pleasant,  during  our  short  stay, 
than  at  so  noisy  a  place  ;  and  therefore,  after  we  had  dined 
at  the  'White  Lion,'  and  inquired  for  letters  at  the  post- 
office,  we  took  a  coach  and  made  our  quarters  at  the  Bath 
Hotel,  Clifton.  Mr.  Mcllvaine  and  I  having  each  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  Mr.  Prust,  a  pious  dissenting  merchant, 
whose  family  residence  was  at  Clifton,  we  sent  them  to  him, 
and  he  soon  called  upon  us,  sat  the  evening  with  us,  and 
kindly  offered  us  any  service  in  his  power.  It  was  agreed 
that  we  would  accompany  him  to-morrow  morning  to  the 
chapel  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Hall,  whose  celebrity  as  a  preach- 
er, as  well  as  his  evangehcal  piety  and  Christian  Catholi- 
cism, have  made  him  so  well  Imown  and  so  much  admired 
in  this  country  and  in  ours. 

"  Sunday,  July  25. — On  going  with  Mr.  Prust  to  Mr. 
Hall's  chapel,  we  found  he  was  not  to  preach  until  evening ; 
we  therefore  went  with  our  guide  to  that  of  Mr.  Leifchild, 
an  Independent  minister.  The  service  of  the  Episcopal 
church  commencing  at  a  later  hour  in  the  morning,  we 
then  went  to  St.  Mary's,  RedclifTe,  and  heard  its  rector,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Whish.  The  church  is  so  spacious,  having  in  fact 
the  aspect  of  a  cathedral,  that  the  voice  of  the  preacher  was 
too  indistinctly  heard  to  allow  my  mind  to  go  along  with 
his  discourse.  After  service,  we  were  introduced  to  him, 
and  walked  through  the  church  to  survey  its  monuments, 
some  of  which  are  very  ancient.  The  whole  interior  of  this 
venerable  Gothic  edifice  is  uncommonly  beautiful.     Against 

Mem.  Milnor.  1 6 


862  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

one  of  its  pillars  hangs  the  armor  of  Admiral  Penn,  father 
of  the  founder  of  Pennsylvania,  and  two  of  the  now  ragged 
colors  of  his  ship.     His  tomb  is  in  the  adjacent  aisle. 

*'At  half  past  six  P.  M.,  we  rode  down  to  Mr.  Hall's 
chapel.  He  did  not  come  from  the  vestry  until  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  preliminary  services,  being  much  indisposed.  He 
appeared  feeble  as  he  ascended  the  pulpit,  and  delivered  his 
sermon  extemporaneously,  in  a  low  voice,  and  entirely  -wdth- 
out  action." 

According  to  his  custom,  Dr.  Milnor  took  full  notes  of 
both  the  discourses  which  he  heard  to-day ;  and  those  of 
Mr.  Hall's  show  it  to  have  been,  in  richness  of  thought  at 
least,  one  of  his  ablest  efforts.  "  We  had  the  pleasure,"  adds 
Dr.  Milnor,  "  of  being  introduced  to  Mr.  Hall,  and  went  into 
his  vestry.  This  distinguished  man  appears  to  be  in  declin- 
ing health.  He  has  for  many  years  been  afflicted  with  the 
*  tic  douloureux'  in  his  back,  which  obliges  him  to  take  large 
quantities  of  opium,  and  to  keep  as  much  as  possible  in  a 
reclining  posture.  A  sitting  posture  and  the  labor  of  writ- 
ing are  very  irksome  to  him.  He  is  now  also  distressed  with 
a  determination  of  blood  to  the  lungs.  After  a  few  moments' 
conversation,  we  took  our  leave,  promising  our  endeavors 
to  comply  with  a  kind  invitation  to  visit  him  at  his  own 
house. 

"Monday,  July  26. — Clifton  is  about  two  miles  from 
the  centre  of  Bristol.  In  fact,  however,  it  is  but  an  exten- 
sion of  the  city  from  the  valley  up  a  steep  acclivity,  on  the 
sides  and  top  of  which  merchants  and  gentlemen  retired 
from  business  have  planted  their  residences.  The  ascent  is 
continual,  till  the  eminence  is  reached.  This  overhangs  the 
river,  the  frequent  windings  of  which,  and  its  high  banks, 
covered  on  the  opposite  side  with  lofty  forest-trees,  give  great 
interest  to  the  scene.  Much  of  the  summit  of  the  hill  is 
left  open  for  a  promenade  ;  and  is  greatly  frequented  by  the 
inhabitants,  and  by  strangers,  who  resort  to  Clifton  for  tlie 
benefit  of  the  hot  wells,  or  for  cool  air  in  their  morning  and 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  363 

evening  walks.  On  the  open  space  in  front  of  our  inn,  are 
constantly  standing  little  carriages,  on  two  hind  wheels  and 
one  fore,  each  drawn  by  a  stout  man,  for  the  accommodation 
of  invalid  females ;  many  of  whom  may  be  seen,  from  time 
to  time,  taking  their  airing  in  that  way.  A  dozen  little 
donkeys  also  stand  ready  saddled,  the  saddle  of  each  cov- 
ered with  a  clean  linen  cloth,  for  hire  to  the  numerous 
children  of  the  gentry,  who  ride  about  the  grounds  for 
exercise. 

"  At  half  past  two  o'clock,  we  visited,  by  appointment, 
Mrs.  Hannah  More,  now  in  her  eighty-sixth  year,  and  for 
two  or  three  years  past  a  resident  at  Clifton.  Her  house  is 
very  agreeably  situated,  having  a  pleasant  prospect  both  in 
front  and  in  rear  from  the  apartments  which  she  occU' 
pies.  She  has  no  inmates  except  her  servants  and  Miss 
Frowd,  a  niece  of  Lord  Exmouth,  who  is  her  constant  com- 
panion, and  devotes  to  her,  with  all  the  affection  of  a  daugh- 
ter, the  most  assiduous  attentions.  Mrs.  More  rose,  and 
received  us  in  the  kindest  and  most  courteous  manner  ;  offer- 
ing her  hand  to  each  of  us,  with  an  expression  of  the  pleas- 
ure which  it  gave  her  to  receive  our  visit.  On  inquiring 
the  state  of  her  health,  she  said,  '  It  was  as  good  as  usual ; 
she  never  had  enjoyed  perfect  health  ;  and  yet,  through  the 
mercy  of  God,  she  had  attained  her  present  advanced  age, 
having  survived  her  six  healthy  sisters.  Her  removal  from 
Barley- Wood  had  been  a  trial,  being  much  attached  to  the 
place,  and  having  expected  to  end  her  days  there.  Her 
trial,  too,  had  been  aggravated  by  the  cause  which  led  to 
her  removal — great  dishonesty  discovered  in  servants  who 
had  lived  with  her  twenty  years.  God,  however,'  she  said, 
'  had  overruled  it  for  good,  especially  in  one  particular.  The 
minister  of  the  parish  at  Barley- Wood,  unhappily,  did  not 
prize  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  gospel ;  and  an  attend- 
ance on  his  ministry  was,  in  fact,  lost  time,  from  the  utterly 
unprofitable  character  of  his  instructions.  But  here  she 
had  the  comfort  of  being  visited  by  three  evangelical  clergy- 


364  MEMOIR  OF   DR.  MILNOR. 

men,  who  were  always  ready  to  assist  her  with  their  coun- 
sels and  their  prayers.' 

."  I  adverted,  in  the  course  of  conversation,  to  the  cur- 
rency which  her  works  had  obtained  in  our  country.  With 
great  humility  of  manner,  she  said  she  was  thankful  for  any 
good  which,  under  God's  blessing,  they  might  accomplish. 
The  Bible  Society  and  Sunday-schools  were  spoken  of.  She 
mentioned  that  she  had  engaged  in  the  Avork  of  the  latter 
immediately  after  its  commencement  by  Mr,  Raikes ;  and 
that,  in  Shipham  and  two  other  parishes  adjacent  to  her 
late  residence,  her  schools  had  ever  since  been  continued ; 
tliat  she  regretted  her  inability  now  to  visit  them  personally, 
but  that  her  friend  Miss  Frowd  went  ^  occasionally  in  her 
behalf;  that  the  people  were  very  poor  and  ignorant;  but 
she  hoped  that  the  four  or  five  hundred  of  their  children, 
who  were  constantly  receiving  religious  instruction  in  those 
schools,  would  be  profited  by  them.  She  said  she  had  been 
much  pleased  with  learning  that  one  of  the  worst  pupils 
they  ever  had  had  been  converted,  and  was  now  a  mission- 
ary among  the  negroes  of  Cafiraria. 

"  The  welfare  of  the  African  seemed  much  to  engross 
her  thoughts ;  and  she  expressed  an  anxious  hope  that  Mr. 
Protheroe,  her  favorite  candidate  for  Bristol,  might  succeed 
in  his  election.  He  had  called  on  her,  she  said,  yesterday  ; 
but  she  never  received  visitors  on  the  Sabbath,  and  had 
therefore  declined  seeing  him,  but  requested  he  would  call 
at  another  time. 

"  She  asked  if  we  had  seen  the  last  volume  of  her  pub- 
lications, consisting  of  short  pieces,  written  at  difierent  pe- 
riods of  her  life  ;  and  requesting  Miss  Frowd  to  hand  her 
the  volume,  she  turned  to  '  The  negro  boy's  petition  to  his 
master  to  be  allowed  to  learn  to  read  the  Bible,'  and  put- 
ting the  book  into  my  hand,  asked  me  to  read  the  piece 
aloud,  which  I  did.  She  subsequently  turned  to  another, 
and  requested  Mr.  Mcllvaine  to  read  a  part  which  she  point- 
ed out ;  and  again,  at  her  request,  I  read  another  beautiful 


.     MISSION  TO  ENaLAND,  365 

passage — all  on  the  same  subject :"  [Mrs.  More  remarking, 
that  his  enunciation  was  so  purely  EngKsh,  that  it  would 
never  have  occurred  to  her  that  he  was  from  a  foreign 
land.  J 

"  The  name  of  Robert  Hall  being  mentioned,  she  spoke 
in  high  terms  of  his  piety  and  talents,  and  mentioned  that, 
many  years  ago,  her  dear  friend  Bishop  Porteus  had  request- 
ed her  to  use  her  influence  with  Mr.  Hall  to  enter  the  estab- 
lished church  ;  declaring,  if  he  would  do  so,  he  should  have 
any  preferment  in  the  bishop's  power  to  bestow ;  and  that 
she  had  conferred  with  Mr.  Hall  on  the  subject,  who  said 
that  he  would  have  no  difficulty  in  subscribing  to  the  thirty- 
nine  articles  of  the  church  of  England,  but  that  he  was  con- 
scientiously opposed  to  infant  hapthm ;  besides,  that  his 
entering  the  church  would  be  ascribed  to  motives  of  self- 
interest  ;  that  his  usefulness  would  be  impaired  by  such  an 
imputation  ;  and  that  therefore  he  declined. 

"  Mrs.  More  expressed  a  great  interest  in  America,  and 
much  pleasure  in  the  prospect  of  every  family  there  being 
supplied  with  a  copy  of  the  sacred  Scriptures.  She  adverted 
to  the  late  Mr.  Bethune,  and  to  Mr.  Eastburn,"  father  of 
the  present  Bishop  Eastburn,  "  and  spoke  of  them  in  terms 
of  high  regard. 

"  I  cannot  mention  more  particularly  the  various  topics 
that  occupied  our  visit  of  an  hour  to  this  estimable  lady ; 
but  her  conversation  was  such  as  elevated  her  in  our  esteem, 
and  made  us  regret,  so  far  as  we  dare,  that  a  life  so  useful 
should  be  drawing  to  a  close.  For  herself,  peacefully  as  her 
days  may  have  glided  away  in  the  practical  duties  of  relig- 
ion, in  offices  of  benevolence,  in  literary  employments,  and 
in  refined  as  well  as  pious  social  intercourse  and  correspond- 
ence, and  much  as  her  works  have  contributed  to  give  her 
a  well-earned  fame,  her  approaching  departure  can  be  a  sub- 
ject of  no  regret ;  for  her  faith  in  the  Redeemer,  attested  by 
her  whole  life,  has  fully  prepared  her  for  the  change.  She 
said,  in  the  course  of  our  conversation,  that  God  had  been 


366  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

very  gracious  in  prolonging  lier  days,  and  thus  giving  her 
time  for  lamenting  her  past  sins  and  preparing  to  meet  him 
in  judgment.  She  said  she  had  not  been  out  of  her  apart- 
ments since  her  removal  from  her  former  residence,  and 
added,  with  calm  resignation,  '  she  did  not  expect  to  leave 
them  till  she  was  carried  to  her  tomb.'  When  we  were 
leavmg  she  rose  again,  and  extending  her  hand  to  each  of 
us,  said  she  considered  our  visit  to  her  a  favor,  and  desired 
an  interest  in  our  prayers  at  the  throne  of  gi-ace ;  adding, 
'  No  one  has  more  need  of  them.' 

"  I  pray  God  that  the  remaming  days  of  his  venerable 
servant  may  be  full  of  Uvely  faith  and  cheerful  hope ;  and 
that,  with  an  aged  scripture-samt,  when  the  hour  for  her 
transition  to  glory  shall  arrive,  she  may  be  enabled,  in  tran- 
quil confidence,  to  say,  '  Lord,  now  lettest  thou  ihj  servant 
depart  in  peace,  according  to  thy  word  :  for  mine  eyes  have 
seen  thy  salvation.' 

"  Tuesday,  July  27. — This  morning  we  took  a  carriage 
and  called  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Hall ;  but  he  was  so  much 
indisposed  after  his  last  Sunday's  service,  that  his  friends 
had  prevailed  on  him  to  seek  the  relaxation  of  a  journey  to 
Weston." 

At  the  close  of  the  day  he  made  the  following  entry  in 
his  journal : 

"  I  received,  to-day,  a  newspaper  from  New  York,  con- 
taining a  letter  addressed  to  me  by  Bishop  Hobart,  under 
his  signature,  complaining  of  my  address  before  the  Prayer- 
book  and  Homily  Society,  as  reflecting  improperly  on  him, 
in  relation  to  his  proposition  for  altering  the  Liturgy.  No 
improper  reflection  was  intended  by  me  ;  nor  would  he  have 
tliought  so,  had  it  not  been  for  the  miserable  manner  m 
which  the  speech  has  been  reported.  It  will  require  con- 
sideration and  prayer  to  enable  me  to  adopt  a  proper  course 
in  relation  to  this  unexpected  attack.  The  bishop's  letter, 
though  it  contains  some  kind  expressions,  is  yet  evidently 
designed  to  injure  me,  by  conveying  the  impression  of  a  mis- 


MISSION   TO  ENGLAND.  367 

statement  of  facts  on  my  part,  and  of  an  intention  to  make 
the  British  pubhc  beheve  that  he  was  uri:Q:iendly  to  the  Lit- 
urgy. I  thank  God,  that  whatever  may  be  the  effect  of 
this  pubhcation  of  the  bishop  on  the  minds  of  others,  my 
own  conscience  acquits  me  on  both  these  points.  I  stated 
nothing  but  the  truth  on  the  occasion  referred  to  ;  and  my 
manner  of  doing  it  was  neither  designed  nor  calculated  to 
produce  any  such  unfavorable  impression  as  to  the  bishop. 
If  he  had  himself  exercised  the  judgment  of  charity  in  the 
case,  he  would  have  drawn  no  such  false  inferences,  even 
from  the  mcorrect  newspaper  report  which  he  has  made 
the  basis  of  his  letter.  But  had  what  I  said  been  stated  as 
delivered,  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  do  so." 

"Wednesday,  July  28,  1830. — I  left  Clifton  this  morn- 
ing in  the  coach  for  Bath,  fifteen  miles  distant.  In  passing 
through  Bristol,  we  found  '  the  Bush  inn '  sheltered  by  a  high 
board  fence  in  front,  put  up  in  consequence  of  the  windows 
having  been  broken  by  a  mob  in  the  interest  of  Mr.  Bailly, 
the  candidate  for  the  House  of  Commons  opposed  to  Mr. 
Protheroe,  whose  committee  sat  at  '  the  Bush.'  We  were 
told  thirty-seven  wounded  persons  had  been  carried  to  the 
infirmary,  most  of  them  struck  down  by  bludgeons  in  the 
hands  of  drunken  sailors.  These  disgraceful  scenes,  it  is  said, 
cannot  be  prevented  by  the  police.  I  was  glad  to  see  a  hand- 
bill from  Mr.  Protheroe's  committee,  earnestly  entreating  his 
friends  to  abstain  not  only  from  violence,  but  from  all  irritat- 
ing language  and  conduct  towards  his  opponents.  I  think 
our  English  friends  must  cease  to  abuse  the  democracy  of  our 
country.  Such  excesses  as  have  disgraced  the  contest  in 
Bristol  rarely  there  occur." 

In  passing  from  A¥orcester  to  Birmingham,  he  witnessed 
a  pleasant  sight,  of  which  he  thus  writes. 

"  Near  the  town  of  Droitwich,  a  fellow-passenger  told 
me  that  between  twelve  and  thirteen  years  ago,  a  poor 
woman  had  four  daughters  at  a  birth,  all  of  whom  were  still 
living ;  and  that  the  event  had  brought  the  parents  about 


368  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILJTOR. 

£1,000  In  presents  from  visitors.  It  was  a  little  extraordi- 
nary, that  as  he  pointed  out  to  me  the  house,  the  children 
actually  appeared,  two  of  them  witliout,  and  two  of  them 
just  within  the  front  door.  They  wore  comely  girls,  and 
decently  dressed  ;  and  the  apparel  of  the  four  being  exactly 
alike,  increased  their  resemblance  to  each  other." 

"Saturday,  July  31, — This  morning  I  took  the  mail- 
coach  for  Holyhead.  My  only  fellow-passenger  inside  was 
a  gentleman  of  the  bar,  who  left  us  at  Wolverhampton,  being 
engaged  to  attend  the  election  for  members  of  Parliament  in 
the  borough  of  Bridgenorth,  as  counsel  for  Mr.  Arkwright,  a 
new  candidate,  opposing  a  wealthy  family,  under  whose  influ- 
ence the  members  have  for  many  years  been  returned.  He 
told  me  the  expense  on  both  sides  would  be  enormous ;  the 
voters  being  about  1,200  in  number,  and  900  of  them  out- 
voters, that  is,  residents  in  other  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
These  are  to'  be  hunted  up  and  coaxed — in  many  instances, 
no  doubt,  bribed — into  the  interests  of  one  or  the  other  of  the 
combatants,  and  their  expenses  borne  to,  and  at,  and  from 
the  place  of  election.  With  all  its  corruptions,  the  populai 
branch  of  the  national  legislature  is,  doubtless,  a  valuable- 
part  of  the  British  Constitution ;  but,  if  it  could  be  accom- 
plished peaceably,  a  reform  is  very  desirable  to  equalize  the 
representation,  and  impart  more  purity  to  the  exercise  of  the 
elective  franchise.  A  large  number  of  the  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons  are  returned  by  small  boroughs,  over  the 
few  voters  of  which  some  nobleman  or  other  rich  individual 
has  the  entire  and  absolute  control.  Mr.  Brougham  lately 
asserted,  that  peers  had  actually  received  so  large  a  sum  as 
£10,000,  for  returning  a  member  to  the  lower  house;  and 
this,  while  by  a  strange  anomaly  many  very  considerable 
places,  such  as  Manchester  and  Birmingham,  are  not  repre- 
sented at  all."  [True ;  but  was  not  William  IV.,  sumamed, 
some  time.  The  Reform  Bill,  already  on  his  throne  ?] 

"  We  soon  crossed  '  the  lovely  Dee,'  whose  praises  I 
learned,  when  a  child,  to  recite  in  a  pensive  ballad  of  that 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  369 

day.  After  feasting  my  eyes  with  a  succession  of  scenery  of 
most  surpassing  beauty  throughout  the  whole  length  of  this 
sweet  vale,  as  we  approached  its  termination  the  views  va- 
ried from  unbroken  verdure  and  fertility  to  smiling  meadows 
overtopped  by  uncultivated  hills ;  the  road  now  and  then 
diverging  from  the  river  to  avoid  a  hill  so  close  upon  its  mar- 
gin as  not  to  admit  the  passage  of  the  road,  and  then  return- 
ing to  its  bank  in  view  of  fresh  objects  of  attraction." 

"  A  few  miles  from  Cor  wen,"  having  left  the  source  of 
the  Dee,  "we  entered  another  vale,"  through  which  flows, 
in  an  opposite  direction,  one  of  the  head-waters  of  the  Con- 
way, "  only  inferior  in  point  of  interest  to  that  which  we  had 
left.  Among  a  thousand  objects  deserving  of  notice,  a  beau- 
tiful cascade  of  the  river  presented  itself  in  a  deep  glen  by 
the  road-side  ;  and  further  on,  at  a  place,  the  name  of  which 
I  dare  not  attempt  to  spell,  a  small,  old  church,  which  I 
should  not  have  noticed  but  for  its  parsonage  of  uncommon 
stateliness,  leading  me,  perhaps  not  in  the  most  charitable 
temper,  to  some  practical  meditations  on  the  rebuke  of  the 
prophet  Haggai,  1:4:  '  Is  it  time  for  you,  0  ye,  to  dwell  in 
your  ceiled  houses,  and  this  house  lie  waste  ?' 

"  Other  evidences  than  the  language  of  the  coachman 
and  hostlers,  now  convinced  me  that  I  was  in  the  midst  of 
"Wales.  Beyond  the  inn  just  mentioned,  we  crossed  the  Con- 
way on  an  iron  bridge,  and  the  country  at  once  completely 
changed  its  aspect.  Below  us  ran  the  river,  at  an  amazing 
depth,  the  view  downwards  being  at  times  perpendicular 
to  the  bottom  of  the  glen  through  which  it  rolled  ;  and  on 
each  side,  rose  craggy,  naked  mountains,  of  most  formidable 
aspect.  It  was  now  night,  but  the  nearly  full  moon  shone 
brightly  ;  so  that,  but  for  the  unpleasant  sharpness  of  the  air, 
I  should  have  found  still  greater  pleasure  than  in  the  day- 
time, from  thus  beholding  the  wonderful  works  of  God  in  this 
wild  rogion. 

"  At  Bettws,  besides  a  singular  bridge  over  a  ravine 
among  the  rocks,  there  is  an  iron  bridge  over  the  Conway  of 
16=^ 


370  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

105  feet  span,  to  which,  from  its  having  been  built  about  the 
time  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  the  name  of  that  bloody  field 
has  been  given.  Our  passage  through  the  mountains  was  a 
distance  of  sixteen  miles.  Snowden  is  the  highest.  Down 
the  shaggy  side  of  this  mountain,  my  fellow-passenger  to 
England,  the  elder  Mr.  Thomas,  precipitated  into  the  valley 
beneath  a  large  portion  of  rock,  which  he  detached  by  push- 
ing against  it.  This  rugged  scenery,  from  its  contrast  with 
that  through  which  we  had  so  lately  passed,  increased 
greatly  the  interest  of  this  day's  journey,  without  making 
any  difference  in  the  smoothness  of  the  road,  over  which  our 
horses  conveyed  us  at  the  uniform  speed  of  ten  miles  the 
hour.  By  winding  along  the  side  of  the  mountain,  curving 
and  recurving,  with  scarce  a  hundred  yards  of  straight  road 
in  any  place,  its  builders  have  been  able  to  keep  it  almost  on 
a  perfect  level,  though  often  at  a  great  expense  for  its  secu- 
rity, arising  from  the  necessity  of  laying  the  foundation  of 
its  wall  far  down  almost  precipitous  declivities  on  the  side 
next  the  narrow  valley  beneath.  In  the  midst  of  this  im- 
mense range,  we  passed  Onv/ig  lake,  a  beautiful  httle  trout- 
water,  about  a  mile  long  and  half  as  wide." 

As  this  was  at  night.  Dr.  Milnor  little  realized  the  gran- 
deur of  the  scene  by  day  ;  the  awfully  shaggy  cliff,  wliich  at 
one  moment  beetles  above  the  traveller's  head  as  he  rides 
along  the  shore  of  that  lovely  water,  and  the  suddenly  fright- 
ful chasm  which,  at  the  next,  yawns  beneath  the  roadside ; 
while  the  outlet  of  the  little  lake  leaps,  from  under  the  bridge 
that  crosses  it,  into  lower  air,  and  reaching  at  last  the  bot- 
tom of  the  gulf,  sends  its  waters  away  in  a  fine,  silvery 
thread,  distant  and  noiseless,  through  the  narrow,  green 
meadow- vale  hundreds  of  feet  below. 

"  The  last  town  of  any  importance  that  we  passed,  was 
Bangor,  in  Caernarvonshire,  situated  between  two  high 
ridges  of  rock  at  the  head  of  Beaumaris  bay.  On  leaving  it, 
one  of  the  most  curious  objects  is  the  chain-bridge  across  the 
Menai  strait,  an  arm  of  the  sea,  that  separates  the  Isle  of 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  371 

Anglesea  from  Wales,  aud  adds  much  to  the  beauty  of  Ban- 
gor. This  bridge  is  30  feet  wide,  560,^feet  long,  and  100 
feet  above  high-water.  As  you  approach,  its  appearance  is 
very  fanciful  and  light,  and  you  can  scarcely  realize  that  it 
is  a  structure  of  sufficient  solidity  to  admit  the  passage  over 
it  of  vehicles  so  heavy  as  that  on  which  I  was  mounted.  Its 
great  height  above  the  water,  also,  is  sufficient  to  inspire  a 
momentary  apprehension  of  danger  ;  but  when  you  are  once 
upon  it,  this  entirely  vanishes,  from  the  evident  strength  of 
its  supports,  and  the  security  against  accidents  of  the  de- 
fences on  its  sides.  My  moonlight  view  of  this  beautiful 
object,  and  of  the  scenery  visible  from  it,  probably  presented 
them  in  a  more  interesting  aspect  than  they  would  have 
borne,  had  I  seen  them  by  the  light  of  day. 

"  I  have  so  extended  my  note  of  this  day's  gratifying, 
though  long  and  fatiguing  ride,  that  I  will  mention  none  of 
the  objects  of  remark  between  Bangor  and  Holyhead,  except 
the  lighthouse  of  the  latter,  alternately  seen  and  hidden  for 
eeveral  miles  before  reaching  it,  as  our  motion  changed  the 
apparent  position  of  intervening  hills. 

"  Holyhead  is  on  a  small  island  at  the  northwest  point 
of  Anglesea,  and  is  considered  the  best  point  of  embarkation 
for  Dubhn,  the  distance  across  the  channel  being  only  twenty 
leagues.  We  arrived  a  quarter  past  one  o'clock  A.  M.,  hav- 
ing travelled,  smce  eight  the  previous  morning,  151  miles, 
with  only  one  meal  on  the  road. 

*'  Though  I  felt  little  or  no  fatigue  durmg'my  ride,  yet  I 
found  myself  sufficiently  weary  at  its  termination,  to  solicit 
a  berth  immediately  on  going  aboard  the  packet,  which  I 
took,  and  in  a  few  minutes  fell  into  a  profound  sleep.  I  did 
not  awake  till  aroused  by  the  captain,  with  the  information 
that  we  had  arrived  at  our  destination ;  not  Dublin,  indeed, 
but  nine  miles  below  the  •  city,  where  the  packet  stops. 
During,  the  night  there  had  been  a  severe  storm,  and  our 
vessel  had  encountered  an  exceedingly  rough  sea — of  all 
which  I  had  been  entirely  unconscious. 


372  MEMOIR  OF  DIl.  MILNOR. 

"  In  consequence  of  my  late  sleep,  all  the  seats  in  and  on 
the  mail-coach  were  occupied  before  I  was  ready  for  the  start. 
I  was,  therefore,  obliged  to  put  up  with  one  of  those  elegant 
vehicles  called  a  'jaunting-car,'  with  a  miserable-looking 
horse  and  driver,  and  went  forward  at  a  pace — which,  for 
want  of  a  whip,  poor  Patrick  was  unable  to  quicken — of 
about  four  miles  the  hour." 

Dr.  Milnor's  visit  to  Ireland  was  so  short,  and  his  notes 
so  few,  that  extracts  from  the  latter  would  be  of  little  inter- 
est to  the  reader.  We  give,  however,  a  single  incident  and 
a  single  paragraph.  At  Dublin,  he  unexpectedly  met  his 
interesting  fellow-passenger  across  the  Atlantic,  Captain 
O'Connor,  who  was  of  great  service  in  introducing  him  to 
valuable  acquaintance,  and  in  pointing  out  to  him  interesting 
objects  in  that  beautiful  city.  From  Dubhn  to  Belfast,  his 
ride  was  of  the  most  unpleasant  kind.  "Yesterday,"  he 
says,  "  being  a  fine  day,  and  hoping  for  a  continuance  of  fair 
weather,  I  took  an  outside  seat.  This  I  had  reason,  soon 
after  our  departure,  to  regi-et.  "When  the  coach  started,  at 
half  past  six,  the  morning  was  lowering,  and  we  had  not 
proceeded  far  before  it  began  to  rain ;  and  in  a  little  while 
we  were  driving  through  a  most  furious  tempest.  Unfor- 
tunately, too,  I  had  the  windward  seat,  and  it  seemed,  at 
times,  as  if  my  umbrella  would  be  torn  into  shreds.  Besides, 
the  rain  soon  penetrated  through,  so  that  it  afibrded  but  little 
protection,  while  those  of  other  passengers  poured  their  drip- 
pings upon  ntb,  and  in  a  short  time  wet  me  to  the  skin. 
When  we  arrived  at  Drogheda,  our  breakfasting-place,  I  had 
a  violent  ague,  which  disqualified  me  not  only  for  taking  my 
breakfast,  but  also  for  changing  my  clothes.  I  would  have 
stopped,  but  the  inn  was  a  shabby  one,  and  crowded  to 
overflowing  by  people  attending  the  election.  I  swallowed, 
however,  some  hot  tea  ;  and,  in  consequence  of  the  vacation 
of  an  inside  seat,  rode  the  rest  of  this  stormy  day,  upwards  of 
one  hundred  miles,  to  Belfast,  under  shelter,  but  in  my  wet 
clothes.     My  landlord  at  Belfast  was  very  kind.     A  warm 


MISSION   TO  ENGLAND.  373 

fire,  a  comfortable  supper,  a  hot  bath  for  my  feet,  and  a  good 
bed,  procured  for  me  a  delightful  iiightV  rest ;  and  I  awoke 
in  the  morning  with  a  heart  grateful  to  God  for  my  preser- 
vation from  the  anticipated  bad  effects  of  such  an  unusual 
exposure  to  cold," 


SECTION   YII. 

At  twelve  o'clock,  Friday,  August  6,  Dr.  Milnor  was  in 
the  steamer  Fin<^al,  for  Glasgow,  where,  after  a  tranquil 
passage,  he  arrived  the  next  m(»ning  at  four,  and  remained 
till  Tuesday  afternoon,  August  10  ;  making  himself  acquaint- 
ed with  the  principal  religious  and  benevolent  institutions  of 
that  beautiful  and  flourishing  mistress  of  the  Clyde,  and  with 
several  worthy  families,  to  whom  he  had  letters.  He  paid 
particular  attention  to  the  tract  operations  of  the  city,  and 
to  the  institution  for  the  education  of  the  deaf  and  dumb. 
Speaking  of  the  religious  operations  of  Glasgow,  he  says, 

"  The  building  called  '  The  Rehgious  Institution,'  is  the 
property  of  all  the  societies  bearing  that  character  in  the  city ; 
no  less  than  twenty-five  holding  their  meetings  within  the 
commodious  building,  which  they  own.  They  have  a  secre- 
tary of  the  institution,  with  a  clerk  to  assist  him ;  and  he 
issues  all  the  notices  for  the  meetings  of  the  several  societies, 
or  of  their  committees.  Each  society  has  also  its  own  secre- 
tary, to  record  its  proceedings ;  but  this  united  arrangement 
saves  the  proper  officers  of  the  societies  considerable  mechan- 
ical labor."  [Why  is  not  the  plan  of  such  an  institution 
worthy  of  adoption  in  all  our  large  cities  ?] 

In  reference  to  the  general  condition  of  the  country,  he 
remarks,  "  In  one  particular,  I  see  a  great  difference  between 
Scotland  and  either  England  or  Ireland,  and  I  may  add 
France.  It  relates  to  the  practice  of  mendicity.  When  I 
left  the  steamer  this  morning,  I  was  assailed  by  no  beggars  • 


374  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

and  I  have  traversed  the  streets  of  Glasgow  all  day  without 
a  single  application.  The  appearance  of  the  lower  orders 
here,  with  few  exceptions,  is  much  more  decent  than  in  any 
large  town  I  have  seen  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Yet  I 
was  astonished  to  learn,  that  respectable  as  is  the  appearance 
of  the  town,  so  far  as  I  have  seen  it,  and  decent  as  is  that  of 
its  inhabitants,  there  is,  in  fact,  a  great  deal  of  poverty  ;  and 
the  reduction  of  the  means  of  living  has  had  a  very  delete- 
rious effect  upon  the  poorer  classes,  in  point  of  morals  and 
religion.  The  population  of  Glasgow,  [this  was  in  1830,] 
approaches  200,000.  Mr.  Heugh,  a  clergyman  of  credit, 
told  me  that  the  church  accommodation  afforded  75,000 
sittings  ;  but  that  of  these  »ot  more  than  35,000  were  actu- 
ally occupied." 

It  would  be  wrong  to  infer,  from  this  mode  of  calculation, 
that  the  means  of  grace  in  Glasgow  reached  no  more  than 
35,000  of  its  inhabitants ;  yet,  with  even  this  caution,  the 
testimony  of  the  above  paragraph  to  that  great  truth  m  polit- 
ical economy,  that  the  want  of  comfortable  bodily  sustenance 
among  the  lower  orders  is  peculiarly  injurious  to  good  morals, 
and  therefore  to  good  government,  is  sufficiently  striking. 

"  Sunday,  Aug.  8. — I  desu'e,"  writes  Dr.  Milnor,  "  grate- 
fully to  acknowledge  the  goodness  of  God  in  my  preservation 
to  see  another  sacred  day  of  rest.  May  my  heart  be  deeply 
impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  unmerited  mercies  wliich  I  am 
daily  receiving  at  his  hands.  As  the  only  return  which  I 
can  make,  and  make  it  I  cannot  without  thy  aid,  grant  to 
me,  Lord,  I  beseech  thee,  the  spirit  to  tliink  and  do  always 
6uch  things  as  be  rightful ;  that  I,  who  cannot  do  any  thing 
that  is  good  without  thee,  may  by  thee  be  enabled  to  live 
according  to  thy  will,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen." 

This  morning  he  attended  worship  at  St.  Mary's  cJiapel. 
St.  Mary's,  he  says,  "  is  one  of  the  two  Episcopal  chapels  in 
Glasgow — our  brethren  being  dissenters  in  Scotland,  are  not 
privileged  to  call  their  houses  of  worship  churcfies.     The 


MISSION    TO  ENGLAND.  375 

rector  being  absent  in  consequence  of  a  family  bereavement, 
a  young  clergyman  in  deacon's  orders -supplied  his  place. 
His  sermon  excited  a  very  favorable  opinion  of  the  piety  and 
doctrinal  views  of  the  preacher,  but  not  a  very  high  one  of 
his  talents.  It  is  to  me  astonishing,  that  the  young  clergy 
of  our  church  should  be  so  regardless  of  delivery.  The  effect 
of  all  that  was  valuable  in  this  sermon  was,  in  great  meas- 
ure, lost,  by  the  close  and  monotonous  manner  in  which  it 
was  read  :  not  a  hand  raised  ;  scarcely  a  look  towards  the 
congregation  from  beginning  to  end,  and  not  even  such  a 
regard  to  emphasis  and  cadence  as  at  all  times  to  convey 
clearly  the  meaning  of  the  speaker  ;  and  yet,  the  sentiments 
good,  and  of  such  practical  importance  to  the  hearers  as 
would  have  justified  their  enforcement  by  the  utmost  energy 
of  manner." 

In  the  afternoon,  he  attended  "  Blackfriars'  chapel,  and 
heard  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dick." 

"  At  four  o'clock,  on  Monday,  Mr.  Wardlaw,  a  lay 
nephew  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wardlaw,  and  a  very  efficient  la- 
borer in  works  of  benevolence  and  piety,  called  for  him,"  and 
took  him  in  his  carriage  "  to  dinner  at  his  country  residence, 
three  miles  from  the  city  ;"  and  in  the  evening  to  a  temper- 
a^.ce-meeting  "  in  the  little  parish  church  of  the  village  of 
Govan  on  the  Clyde ;  a  beautiful  building,  and  as  beauti- 
fully situated  as  any  which  he  had  seen."  Of  this  temper- 
ance-meeting Dr.  Milnor  thus  writes  : 

"  The  church  was  full ;  and  a  most  silent  and  respectful 
attention  was  given  to  the  addresses  on  the  subject  from  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Strothers,  Mr.  Wardlaw,  and  myself  I  occupied 
about  fifty  minutes,  and  communicated  many  facts  in  rela- 
tion to  the  success  of  the  cause  in  America,  which  were 
new  to  the  people  whom  1  addressed.  The  poor  of  Govan 
are  principally  weavers,  and  many  of  them  given  to  intoxi- 
cation ;  while  few,  until  temperance  measures  were  intro- 
duced, wholly  abstained  from  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors. 
It  is  confidently  believed,  that  these  measures  will  be  at- 


376  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MIL!s'01l. 

tended  with  most  happy  eiTects.  The  cause  is  looking  up 
most  encouragingly  in  Scotland,  though,  as  yet,  many  even 
of  the  clergy  withhold  their  countenance  ;  and  on  the  pres- 
ent occasion,  though  the  minister  of  Govan  granted  the  soci- 
ety the  use  of  his  church,  yet  he  declined  personal  attend- 
ance, '  not  having  made  up  his  mind  on  the  subject.'  " 

After  a  parting  breakfast  with  his  friends  on  Tuesday, 
Dr.  Milnor  had  time,  before  the  coach  left  Glasgow,  to  visit 
the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum,  inspect  its  system  of  instruc- 
tion, and  examine  some  of  the  productions  of  the  pupils.  He 
found  that  here,  as  in  other  similar  institutions,  articulanon 
was  taught,  though  in  a  few  cases  only  in  which  the  pros- 
pect of  success  was  flattering.  Among  the  productions  of 
the  pupils,  he  saw  "several  copies  of  rich  engravings  made 
with  a  pen,  and  scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  the  orig- 
inals'' One  of  these  was  "  a  copy  of  the  full-length  por- 
trait of  Napoleon  in  his  imperial  robes,  by  a  boy  twelve  years 
old.  The  lad  observed  that  '  the  engraving  did  not  give  a 
correct  representation  of  Napoleon' syizfc,  and  he  thought  he 
could  improve  it.'  And,"  adds  Dr.  Milnor,  "judging  from 
the  best  likenesses,  and  the  bust  of  that  distinguished  man, 
he  has  certainly  made  a  manifest  improvement  on  the  orig- 
inal." 

At  four  o'clock,  Tuesday  afternoon,  he  took  coach  for 
Edinburgh.  "  The  Uev.  Dr.  Byrne,  of  the  kirk,  was  his 
agreeable  fellow-traveller,"  being  on  his  way  to  "  attend  a 
meeting  of  the  Commission  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Established  Church  of  Scotland."  By  his  invitation,  Dr. 
Milnor  attended  the  sittings  of  the  commission.  *'  This  is 
a  kind  of  standing  committee,  possessing  the  powers  of  the 
general  assembly,  and  holding  quarterly  meetings  for  the 
transaction  of  its  business,  especially  its  judicial  concerns, 
during  the  recess  of  that  body." 

When  Dr.  Milnor  entered  the  Tron  church  in  Edinburgh, 
the  place  where  the  commission  held  their  sittings,  "  they 
were  engaged  in  the  consideration  of  addresses  to  King 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  377 

"William  and  dueeii  Adelaide,  on  the  occasion  of  their  recent 
accession  to  the  throne. 

"  A  discussion  then  came  on,  which,  in  one  shape  or 
another,  had  been  depending  for  four  years,  respecting  the 
settlement  of  a  minister  in  the  parish  of  Inverness,  whose 
orthodoxy  had  been  questioned.  A  preliminary  objection  to 
the  jurisdiction,  arising  out  of  some  peculiarities  in  the  forms 
of  the  church,  and  of  the  previous  proceedings  in  the  case, 
gave  Dr.  Milnor  "  an  opportunity  of  hearing  two  eminent 
barristers,  Mr.  Buchanan  and  Mr.  Patrick  Robertson,  who 
were  employed  as  counsel  on  opposite  sides  of  the  question. 
Both  spoke  with  ability,  and  the  latter  with  animation.  The 
E-ev.  Dr.  Cook,  Dr.  Byrne,  and  others,  spoke  with  great 
energy  and  warmth ;  and  the  objection  to  the  jurisdiction 
was  almost  unanimously  overruled." 

Thus  introduced  to  Edinburgh,  Dr.  Milnor  remained  in 
that  renowned  capital  of  Scotland  from  the  10th  to  the  17th 
of  August,  cultivating  the  acquaintance,  and  enjoying  the 
hospitalities  of  its  religious  circles.  The  evening  of  the  1 1th 
was  a  "  dismal"  close  to  what  had  been  a  stormy  afternoon  ; 
but  "Dr.  Walker  of  London,  and  his  travelling  companion, 
an  intelligent  student  of  the  Inner  Temple,  dined  with  him 
at  his  hotel,  and  by  their  conversation  relieved  the  solitari- 
ness" of  his  hours.  And  he  adds,  at  the  close  of  his  jour- 
nal for  the  day,  "  Besides  the  respectable  gentlemen  above 
mentioned,  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  becoming  acquainted 
with  John  Sheppard,  Esq.,  author  of  '  Thoughts  on  Private 
Devotion'  and  some  other  works,  who  transmitted  to  Lord 
Byron  a  prayer  composed  for  his  lordship  by  Mrs.  Sheppard. 
Lord  Byron  returned  the  reply  which,  since  his  death,  has 
been  published,  and  which,  as  coming  from  such  a  man,  con- 
tains so  singular  an  acknowledgment  of  the  excellence  of 
Christianity  in  communicating  happiness  to  its  true  subjects. 
Mr.  Sheppard  studied  medicine  in  Edinburgh,  several  years 
ago  ;  but  being  a  man  of  independent  fortune,  and  having 
determined  not  to  practise  the  medical  profession,  he  never 


378  MEMOIR  OF  DE..  MILNOE.. 

took  his  degree.  His  pursuits  have  siuce  been  Hterary,  re- 
ligious, and  benevolent ;  for  usefulness  in  which,  he  sustains 
the  highest  reputation  in  Frome-Selwood,  Somersetsliire, 
England,  w^here  he  resides.  He  has  lately  published,  in  two 
volumes,  a  work  on  the  evidences  of  Christianity." 

"Thursday  Morning,  August  12. — Mr.  Sheppard  pro- 
posed to  accompany  me  on  a  long  walk.  Accordingly,  we 
started  for  Holyrood  House  ;  and  after  surveying  the  exterior 
of  this  venerable  and  celebrated  building,  we  ascended  the 
circular,  and  in  some  places  steep  road,  which  winds  round 
Salisbury  Craig  and  Arthur's  Seat,  stopping  at  various  points 
of  the  ascent,  to  view  the  inimitable  panorama  of  Edin- 
burgh, as  presented  in  various  aspects  all  the  way  up  this 
lofty  eminence.  The  striking  terminations  of  the  old  town 
in  those  massy  ancient  structures,  Holyrood  House  on  the 
east,  in  the  valley  beneath  our  feet,  and  the  castle  on  the 
west,  upon  its  lofty  rock ;  the  many  intervening  churches, 
with  turrets,  domes,  and  steeples  ;  the  splendid  column  m 
memory  of  Nelson ;  the  elegant  specimens  of  modern  archi- 
tecture, presented  in  the  unfinished  temple  and  other  struc- 
tures on  Calton  Hill ;  the  high-school,  the  jail,  the  bride- 
well, etc.  ;  the  singular  valley  between  the  old  town  and 
the  new,  and  the  immense  mass  of  fine  buildmgs  in  the  lat- 
ter ;  the  charming  view  of  the  Frith  of  Forth  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  the  Pentland  Hills  on  the  other,  with  country- 
seats  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  in  the  distance,  altogether, 
present  a  scene  of  unrivalled  grandeur.  As  we  mounted 
the  height,  especially  as  we  rounded  the  elevated  summit  of 
Arthur's  Seat,  the  wind  was  so  strong  as  almost  to  make 
our  position  unsafe.  We  persevered,  however,  in  our  course, 
and  descended  on  the  opposite  side." 

But,  while  in  Edinburgh,  Dr.  Milnor's  object  was  less  to 
see  things,  than  to  become  acquainted  with  men  and  witli 
religious  institutions.  He  spent  most  of  his  time  in  social 
and  religious  intercourse  with  such  men  as  have  already 
been  named,  and  with  the  aged  and  veteran  Dr.  Peddie,  of 


MISSION  TO  ENQLAND.  379 

tlie  Secession  cliurcli ;  the  Rev.  Mr.  Imies,  of  the  Baptist ; 
the  Rev.  John  -Brown,  grandson  of  the  Rev.  John  Brown  of 
Haddington ;  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Ramsay,  Sinclair,  and  Craig, 
of  the  Episcopal  church ;  Dr.  Chalmers,  and  Mr.  Thomas 
Miller,  brother  to  several  of  that  name  in  Philadelphia — all 
men  of  piety  and  talents,  and  several  of  them,  besides  Dr. 
Chalmers,  authors  of  no  mean  distinction.  His  social  and 
religious  intercourse  with  these  gentlemen,  on  various  break- 
fast and  dimier  occasions — similar  to  those  on  which  he  met 
so  many  noble  ones  of  the  church  in  London — was  full  of 
satisfaction  and  of  profit,  and  made  liis  memories  of  "  the 
heart  of  Mid  Lothian"  more  fragrant  than  they  could  have 
been  if  gathered  from  the  festivities  of  wealth  and  the  splen- 
dors of  fashion.  Dr.  Chalmers  was  of  the  company  at  din- 
ner both  on  Friday  and  on  Saturday,  and  had  the  circle  of 
friends  at  his  own  house  to  breakfast  on  Monday  morning. 
Litercourse  with  this  great,  good  man  served  to  elevate  him 
still  higher  in  the  estimation  of  those  who  had  previously 
known  him  only  hi  his  loftiness  as  a  preacher  and  an  author. 
The  character  of  the  social,  religious  entertainments  to  which 
Dr.  Milnor  was  admitted  in  Edinburgh,  may  be  judged  from 
the  brief  account  which  he  gives  of  the  breakfast  at  Dr. 
Chalmers'  on  Monday  morning. 

"  He  received  me  with  great  affability  and  kindness,  and 
Mrs.  Chalmers,  with  all  that  frankness  and  ease  of  manner 
which  distinguishes  the  Scottish  ladies.  Before  breakfast, 
Dr.  Chalmers  read  a  chapter  to  the  family ;  and  at  his  re- 
quest, I  offered  prayer. 

"  The  topics  of  conversation  w^ere  various.  Dr.  Chalmers, 
being  a  member  of  the  established  church  of  Scotland,  is  evi- 
dently much  attached  to  the  union  of  church  and  state.  It 
is  true,  that,  like  all  the  members  of  the  Kirk,  he  utterly 
disclaims  the  idea  of  the  king's  being,  in  any  sense,  its  sjoir- 
itual  head,  or  of  the  government's  having  any  right  to  in- 
terfere with  the  most  entire  liberty  of  conscience  in  its  sub- 
jects.    On  this  latter  ground  it  was,  that  he  advocated  so 


380  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

strenuously  the  cause  of  Catholic  emancipation.  But  he  fa- 
vors the  union  of  church  and  state  simply  because  he  thinks 
it  is  of  advantage  to  Christianity  to  be  formally  recognized 
as  the  religion  of  the  country,  and  to  receive  the  protection 
of  government,  and  in  various  ways  its  pecuniary  aid  in 
mahitaining  its  ministry  and  institutions.  He  inquired  par- 
ticularly as  to  numerous  diffipulties  which  he  supposed  must 
in  our  country  attend  the  absence  of  an  establishment ;  espe- 
cially in  regard  to  the  erection  of  churches,  and  the  exten- 
sion of  religion  coordinately  with  the  rapid  increase  of  our 
population.  He  thought  that,  if  left  entirely  to  the  volun- 
tary contributions  of  the  people,  religion  must  decline  for 
want  of  pecuniary  support. 

"  On  the  contrary,  I  argued,  that  besides  the  utter  incon- 
sistency of  an  establishment  with  the  genius  of  our  free  in- 
stitutions, and  with  the  character  and  opuiions  of  our  people, 
it  would  be  inexpedient  to  adopt  such  a  measure  ;  that  relig- 
ion would  be  more  cheerfully  supported  under  a  voluntary, 
than  under  a  compulsory  system ;  that  unhappy  jealousies 
between  different  denominations  would  be  avoided,  as  well 
as  those  numerous  corruptions  and  incumbrances  which  we 
saw  appertaining  to  all  long-continued  connections  of  relig- 
ion with  government,  even  to  those  best  in  the  world,  the 
English  and  Scotch  establishments  ;  that  although,  in  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  the  United  States,  the  increase  of 
the  population  exceeded  that  of  the  means  of  grace,  yet  this 
was  an  evil  which,  in  the  existing  divided  state  of  religious 
opinion,  would  find  no  remedy  in  the  established  dominance 
of  one  denomination  ;  that,  in  point  of  fact — allowance  being 
made  for  the  youth  of  our  country — our  religious  statistics 
would  bear  a  respectable  comparison  with  those  of  either 
England  or  Scotland ;  and  that  in  both  of  the  latter  coun- 
tries, the  great  proportion  of  dissenters  was  a  proof  of  the 
unpopularity  of  establishments,  as  the  number  of  the  dissent- 
ing churches,  the  talent  and  learning  of  their  ministers,  and 
the  piety  of  many  of  their  people,  were,  of  the  truth,  more 


MISSION   TO  ENQLAND.  381 

fully  demonstrated  in  America,  that  religion  could  be  sap- 
ported  by  the  unconstrained  liberality  of  its'friends,  and  would 
lose  none  of  its  purity  by  refusing  all  secular  reliances  what- 
soever. I  adverted  to  some  of  our  religious  statistics,  and 
compared  them  with  the  information  which  I  had  received 
in  Glasgow  as  to  the  proportion  of  attendants  on  public  wor- 
ship in  that  respectable  city  ;  and  contended  that  our  coun- 
try did  not  sufler  in  the  comparison. 

"  Dr.  Chalmers  listened  with  much  attention  to  my  argu- 
ment and  statements,  and  avowed  a  deep  interest  in  Amer- 
ica— especially  in  her  connection  with  the  cause  of  Christ 
throughout  the  world.  He  spoke  in  terms  of  respect  of  sev- 
eral of  our  religious  writers  ;  and  in  answer  to  an  inquiry 
whether  we  might  hope  for  a  visit  from  him,  said  that  he 
feared  his  engagements  in  the  university  would  prevent  such 
a  step  ;  and  that  extreme  aversion  to  a  sea- voyage  was  with 
him  another  formidable  difficulty  in  the  way." 

On  Tuesday  morning,  August  17,  he  left  Edinburgh  for 
Carlisle,  saddened  by  two  considerations- — the  shortness  of 
his  visit,  and  the  state  of  the  weather  ;  for  it  was  "  what 
the  Scotch  call  'a  soft  morning;'  that  is,  it  rained  hard." 
His  course  lay  through  Selkirk  and  among  the  Cheviot  hills ; 
along  the  Tweed  and  the  Esk,  and  across  the  border  grounds 
of  olden  fame.  He  reached  Carlisle  about  dark,  where  he 
would  have  stopped,  but  for  the  wish  that  had  come  over 
him  to  see  the  English  lakes,  and  the  circumstance  that  the 
town  was  overflowing  with  attendants  on  the  assizes,  to  such 
a  degree  as  to  make  it  difficult  for  him  to  obtain  lodgings. 
Influenced  by  these  considerations,  he  changed  his  mind,  and 
in  spite  of  a  long  day's  ride,  intense  cold  weather,  arid  an 
outside  seat,  rode  on  to  Penrith,  eighteen  miles  further,  be- 
fore he  found  a  resting  for  the  night. 

"The  tediousness  of  this  night-travelling,"  he  observes, 
"  was  somewhat  beguiled  by  a  talkative  fellow-traveller  by 
my  side,  who  had  been  attending  the  assize  court.  Mr. 
Brougham  and  several  other  of  the  most  eminent  counsel 


382  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

had  been  several  days  employed  in  trying  a  cause,  in  which 
the  question  between  the  litigants  related  to  a  right  of  way, 
which  the  one  claimed,  by  prescription,  from  time  *  whereof 
the  memory  of  man  rmmeth  not  to  the  contrary  ;'  while  the 
other  contended  that  the  claim  was  a  recent  invasion  of  his 
own  rights.  Fifty  witnesses  on  each  side  had  already  been 
examined,  and  yet  the  battle  remained  undecided.  The 
matter  is  of  but  small  real  importance,  and  the  contest  is 
clearly  for  victory  between  two  angry  combatants,  who,  to 
gratify  their  resentments,  will  expend  each  several  thousand 
pounds." 

Dr.  Milnor's  visit  to  the  lakes  of  Cumberland  and  West- 
moreland, on  his  devious  route  between  Penrith  and  Kendal, 
was  a  source  to  him  of  unmingled  delight,  as  such  a  visit 
must  be  to  every  true  lover  of  nature.  The  scenery  is  some 
of  the  most  lovely  ever  spread  by  the  hand  of  God  before  the 
eye  of  man.  "With  no  great  height  of  mountains,  the  loftiest 
being  little  over  3,000  feet,  there  are  still  such  a  grouping  of 
almost  innumerable  summits  ;  such  a  cleaving  of  each  from 
all  the  rest,  down  to  its  very  base  ;  such  a  sombre  rugged- 
ness  and  grotesqueness  in  many  of  their  forms,  yet  such  a 
kind,  and  genial,  and  sunny  embosoming  of  green  fields  and 
glassy  "  waters"  among  their  deep  vallies  ;  such  a  sprinkling 
of  quiet  villages,  and  of  guileless  villagers  among  the  glens, 
and  round  the  lakes  below ;  and  such  worship-moving  views 
of  God's  glory  from  the  pinnacles  above,  that  no  traveller 
who,  with  a  poet's  eye,  has  looked  upon  the  whole,  will 
deem  it  hyperbole  to  call  this  region,  as  a  tourist  of  former 
days  has  named  it,  "  the  pageantry  of  creation." 

Hanging  round,  and  hovering  over  those  deep-sheltered 
lakes,  Bassenthwaite,  Derwentwater,  and  Thirlmere ;  Ulls- 
water,  Wastwater,  and  Winandermere ;  and  even  little  E.y- 
dalwater  and  Grasmere ;  about  Keswick  and  Rydalmount, 
Bowness  and  Ambleside,  with  the  various  lesser  hamlets  of 
their  train  ;  in  narrow  Grisdale,  deep  Borrowdale,  and  name- 
less sister  dales  around ;  and  finally,  in  the  dark  chasms  and 


MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  383 

the  dim  caves  whicli  now  and  then  yawn  around  the  feet  of 
the  mountains,  as  well  as  in  the  dashing  cascades  which 
here  and  there  leap  from  their  rough  foreheads  and  rush 
down  their  rocky  faces — hanging  round,  and  hovering  over 
all  these,  there  is  a  silent  or  a  speaking,  a  profound  and  an 
almost  living  soul  of  nature,  which  could  hardly  have  failed 
to  draw  amid  their  charmed  abiding-places  such  spirits  as 
those  of  Watson  and  of  Arnold,  or  those  of  Wordsworth, 
Southey,  and  Hemans.  The  retreats  of  Westmoreland  and 
Cumberland  are  the  sacred  summer  homes  both  of  devotion 
and  of  poetry.  Nor  even  in  ivinter  do  they  furnish  less, 
though  it  be  a  rougher  nurture  to  the  soul  that  loves  to  look 
on  God  as  seen  in  all  the  moods  of  his  ever-various  works. 
"  Beaumont-street  in  Oxford,"  may  please  the  learned  lec- 
turer on  history  ;  "nevertheless,"  says  the  proprietor  of  Fox 
How,  penning  a  letter  on  the  I7tli  of  January,  "I  prefer 
writing  from  the  delicious  calm  of  this  place,  where  the 
mountains  raise  their  snowy  tops  into  the  clear  sky,  by  this 
dim  twilight,  with  a  most  ghostlike  solemnity,  and  nothing 
is  heard,  far  or  near,  except  the  sound  of  the  stream  through 
the  valley.  I  have  been  walking  to-day  to  Windermere, 
and  went  out  on  a  little  rude  pier  of  stones  into  the  lake,  to 
watch  what  is  to  me  one  of  the  most  beautiful  objects  in 
nature,  the  life  of  blue  ivater  amidst  a  dead  lavxUca'pe  of 
snoiv.  The  sky  was  bright,  and  the  wind  fresh,  and  the 
lake  was  dancing  and  singing,  as  it  were ;  while  all  along 
its  margin  lay  the  dead  snow  covering  every  thing  but  the 
lake."  [Life  of  Arnold,  p.  435.  Appleton,  New  York, 
1845.] 

After  this  day  of  rare  pleasure.  Dr.  Milnor  reached  busy 
old  Kendal  a  little  after  dark,  and  the  next  morning,  Thurs- 
day, Aug.  19,  pursued  his  way  to  busier  young  Manchester. 
He  spent  Friday  in  taking  an  exterior  view  of  the  latter, 
and  in  delivering  his  letters  of  introduction.  Unfortunately 
for  him,  however,  the  good  folks  of  Manchester  were  too 
busy  to  wait  at  home  for  visitors,  and  he  therefore,  for  this 


384  MEMOIR  OF  DR..  MILNOR. 

day,  failed  of  making  any  acquaintances,  except  with  Mr. 
Thomas  Smith,  who  subsequently  called  upon  him,  and  took 
him  to  his  country-house  to  spend  the  evening. 

On  Saturday  he  visited  the  school  for  the  deaf  and  dumb, 
and  examined  its  system  of  instruction,  particularly  as  ap- 
plied to  the  teaching  of  articulation.  Institutions  of  this 
class  he  evidently  made  a  subject  of  more  than  ordinary  at- 
tention ;  and  one  of  his  chief  objects  was,  as  evidently,  to 
obtain  some  distinct  and  well-founded  views  touching  the 
question  whether  the  attempts  to  teach  articulation  to  deaf 
mutes  were  likely  to  prove  generally  successful.  His  jour- 
nal shows  that  his  original  doubts  on  this  point  were,  on  the 
whole,  confirmed  rather  than  removed,  by  what  he  saw  in 
the  various  European  institutions  which  he  visited. 

He  also  inspected  some  magnificent  cotton-factories  dur- 
ing the  day ;  and,  at  dinner  with  Mr.  Smith,  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stowell,  an  able  evangelical 
preacher  of  the  established  church,  for  whose  use  "  a  hand- 
some new  chapel"  was  nearly  in  readiness. 

His  Sabbath  in  Manchester  was  a  day  of  more  than 
usual  spiritual  refreshment.  He  attended  Mr.  Stowell's  ser- 
vices morning  and  afternoon,  and  in  the  evening  went  to 
hear  the  Rev.  Mr.  McCall,  minister  of  an  Independent 
chapel.  Of  the  three  sermons  he  took  copious  notes,  which 
'svince  that  they  were  as  full  of  the  marrow  of  the  gospel 
as  they  were  distinguished  for  earnestness  and  ability. 

In  his  journal  for  Monday  he  has  the  following  entry : 
"  Breakfasted  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stowell,  and  found  him,  as 
I  had  anticipated,  a  deeply  experienced  Christian  and  a  de- 
voted minister  of  Christ.  Nominally,  he  occupies  the  situa- 
tion of  an  assistant  minister ;  but  in  fact,  he  is  the  only 
ofl[iciating  clergyman  in  the  chapel  where  I  heard  him  yes- 
terday.    This  chapel  is  the  property  of  the  Rev.  Mr. , 

whose  misconduct  obliged  him  to  leave  Manchester,  and 
who  was  glad  to  put  his  building  in  charge  of  a  man  the 
very  opposite  of  himself  in  religious  views  and  in  moral  con- 


MISSION   TO  ENGLAND.  385 

duct,  but  whose  faithful  ministry  would  fill  the  chapel  and 
bring  him  a  handsome  revenue.  All  the'leats  being  rented, 
he  receives  an  interest,  after  paying  Mr.  Stowell's  salary, 
far  beyond  what  any  other  investment  of  his  money  would 
produce.  He  is  so  sensible  of  the  benefits  of  evangelical 
preaching,  in  this  point  of  view,  that  he  has  given  Mr, 
Stowell  the  privilege  of  appointing  his  successor.  I  was 
sorry  to  learn  that  Manchester  is  not  so  highly  favored  in 
the  established  church  as  among  the  dissenters,  with  minis- 
ters of  eminent  talent ;  and  that  the  clergy  of  the  former 
are  considerably  disunited  by  doctrinal  varieties  ;  some  be- 
ing low  Arminians,  and  others  Calvinists  of  the  highest 
grade.  Much  coolness  in  their  intercourse  with  each  other 
is  the  result." 

"  After  breakfast,  I  went  with  Mr.  Stowell  to  an  infant- 
school  supported  by  his  congregation.  It  is  under  the  charge 
of  a  male  teacher,  assisted  by  his  wife,  and  contains  150 
pupils.  The  teacher  is  a  man  of  ordinary  education,  but  of 
superior  natural  abilities,  which  he  has  certainly  applied  in 
a  very  effectual,  though,  in  some  respects,  novel  manner,  to 
the  business  of  infant-school  instruction.  His  method  of  en- 
gaging and  sustaining  the  attention  of  his  little  scholars  is 
quite  peculiar  ;  and  I  have  seen  no  establishment  of  the  kind 
in  which  a  better  result  has  followed  the  teacher's  efforts. 
The  history  of  this  successful  teacher  of  infants,  as  shortly 
given  me  by  Mr.  Stowell,  would  form  an  interesting  biog- 
raphy ;  one  of  the  most  instructive  features  of  which  would 
be,  an  exhibition  of  the  power  of  divine  grace  in  reclaiming, 
after  a  life  of  singular  wanderings,  infidelity,  and  vice,  ac- 
companied with  much  suffering  and  misery,  this  object  of 
the  divine  mercy,  and  transforaiing  him  into  a  meek  and 
pious  disciple  of  Christ,  and  a  useful  member  of  society. 

"  After  dinner  I  left  Manchester,  with  an  impression 
alike  of  its  immense  importance  as  a  manufacturing  town, 
and  of  its  uninviting  character  as  a  place  of  residence,  except 
for  those  interested  in  its  business.     It  has  some  handsome 

Mem.  Miluor.  1  7 


386  MEMOIE,  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

public  buildings ;  but,  with  the  exception  of  the  exchange, 
they  are  situated  in  narrow  streets,  where  they  appear  to 
no  advantage.  A  few  of  the  streets  are  wide  and  airy,  and 
a  portion  of  the  environs  very  pleasant ;  but  the  interior  of 
the  town  is  in  general  disagreeable  and  gloomy.  As  to  aU 
business  objects,  however,  it  is  one  of  the  most  flourishing 
places  in  the  kingdom  ;  and  those  who  are  making  fortunes 
in  the  town,  have  no  difficulty  in  rendering  their  families 
comfortable  in  rural  villas  or  terraced  rows  of  genteel  houses, 
which  are  every  year  increasing  in  the  neighborhood. 

"  With  one  thing  I  was  much  grieved.  In  returning 
from  Mr.  Smith's,  in  the  Crescent,  to  Albion  hotel,  Picca- 
dilly, on  Saturday  evening,  I  saw  more  drunken  men, 
women,  and  boys,  than  I  ever  before  beheld  in  the  same 
space  of  time.  Temperance  societies  will,  I  hope,  remedy 
this  deplorable  state  of  things ;  and  I  am  happy  that  they 
have  been  commenced  with  encouraging  prospects  of  success. 
Intemperance  is  becoming  increasingly  prevalent  among  the 
lower  orders  in  England  ;  but  I  everywhere  find  it  asserted, 
that  among  the  middle  and  higher  orders,  no  increase  of  the 
evil  is  perceptible.  It  is  therefore  difficult  to  convince  these 
classes  of  the  utility  of  temperance  societies,  except  for  the 
reformation  of  the  lower.  I  am,  however,  persuaded  that 
there  is  enough  of  the  evil  among  all  ranks  to  make  the 
universal  establishment  of  these  societies  useful ;  and  I  have 
consequently  everywhere  urged  them  upon  the  attention  of 
those  with  whom  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  communi- 
cating on  this  important  subject." 

In  passing  from  Manchester  to  Sheffield,  Dr.  Milnor 
traversed,  though  without  leisure  to  examine,  the  singularly 
fine  scenery  of  Derbyshire,  with  its  peak,  castle,  and  cav- 
erns, and  with  its  lovely  vales  succeeded  by  lone  moorlands ; 
reaching  Sheffield  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  Mon- 
day, August  23. 

Here  his  letters  soon  made  him  acquainted  with  the 
Sandersons  and  Mr.  Ibbotson  of  the  busy  world,  with  Mr. 


MISSION   TO  ENG-LAND.  387 

Bronson  and  Mr.  Brookfield  of  the  law,  and  with  Montgomery 
of  the  Christian  Lyre.     Of  the  last,  his  journal  speaks  thus  : 

"  I  found  him,  as  I  had  been  led  to  expect,  living  in  a 
retired  way,  with  two  maiden  ladies,  the  Misses  Gale«,  sis- 
ters to  Mr.  Gales  of  North  Carolina,  and  aunts  to  Joseph 
Gales  of  the  National  Intelligencer  of  Washington.  During 
his  nonage,  Mr.  Montgomery  left  the  Moravian  seminary 
near  Leeds,  at  which  he  was  receiving  his  education,  and 
came  to  Sheffield,  where  he  apprenticed  himself  to  the  elder 
Mr.  Gales.  Some  years  later,  Mr.  Gales,  having  encoun- 
tered some  difficulties  with  the  government  as  publisher  of 
a  newspaper,  left  England  for  America ;  and  Mr.  Mont- 
gomery took  charge  of  the  Iris  as  its  printer  and  editor. 
"While  in  this  employment,  he  also  offended  the  administra- 
tion by  republishing  a  patriotic  song,  although  it  had  ap- 
peared in  several  other  papers,  and  was  sentenced  to  nine 
months'  imprisonment  in  the  jail  at  York.  He  endured  his 
sentence  with  becoming  fortitude ;  wrote,  during  his  con- 
finement, a  little  volume  of  poems,  now  very  scarce,  called 
'  Prison  Amusements,'  and  came  out  with  the  result  which 
generally  attends  unrighteous  persecution — the  sympathy  ol 
his  friends,  and  renewed  patronage  for  his  paper." 

"  He  received  his  religious  impressions  under  the  minis- 
try of  the  Methodist  church,  but  continues  a  member  of  the 
Moravian.  His  piety  is  deep-toned  and  decided,  though 
cheerful  as  it  is  ardent.  Its  practical  exhibition  is  seen  in 
his  engagement  in  all  the  works  of  piety  and  beneficence  for 
which  Sheffield  is  distinguished.  No  man  can  be  more 
beloved  and  respected  for  his  unassuming  devotion  to  the 
interests  of  religion,  morals,  and  science,  or  for  the  varied 
talent  which  he  has  exhibited.  My  first  interview  affected 
me  with  the  most  favorable  impressions  of  his  character, 
and  all  my  subsequent  intercourse  with  him,  and  all  the  in- 
formation which  I  received  from  his  neighbors,  confirmed 
and  deepened  them. 

*'  Immediately  after  I  left  Mr.  Montgomery,"  at  the  close 


388  MEilOm  OF  DR.  iriLNOR.     . 

of  this  first  interview,  "  I  called  on  the  Rev.  Mr.  Best,  of 
St.  James'  Episcopal  chapel.  But  when  he  called  in  return, 
I  had  gone  to  visit  my  friend  Mr.  Congreve,  a  worthy  dis- 
ciple of  Christ,  who  first  obtained  a  hope  of  mercy  in  St 
George's,  while  on  a  temporary  visit  of  business  at  New 
York.  I  was  delighted  to  find  him  an  established,  happy, 
working  Christian,  with  as  single  a  dependence  as  I  could 
desire,  upon  the  urmierited  mercy  of  his  reconciled  Father 
in  Christ  Jesus." 

On  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  Dr.  Milnor  rapidly  ex- 
tended his  acquaintance  with  the  interestmg  rehgious  society 
of  Sheffield.  On  Tuesday  evening  he  lectured  for  Mr.  Best, 
in  the  room  of  one  of  the  "  eleven  districts,"  into  which  the 
Episcopal  clergy  of  Sheffield  have  divided  the  town,  for  the 
purpose  of  accommodating  "  the  working  classes,  as  well  as 
many  of  a  higher  grade,"  with  stated  weekly  instruction ; 
and  much  of  "Wednesday  was  spent  in  visithig  the  room  of 
the  Philosophical  Society,  of  which  Mr.  Montgomery  was 
the  first  president ;  together  with  the  various  and  vast  iron 
and  steel  manufactures  of  Sheffield. 

"  Thursday,  August  26. — Dined  with  Mr.  Ibbotson  at 
the  Globe  works.  Mr.  Montgomery,  and  Mr.  Holland, 
author  of  the  Life  of  Summer  field,  were  of  the  party.  The 
company  being  all  professedly  religious,  the  conversation  also 
was  of  that  character.  Mr.  Montgomery  was  in  one  of  his 
best  moods,  and  rarely  have  I  heard  a  more  pleasing  and 
earnest  advocate  of  experimental  religion.  No  controversial 
dillerences  were  allowed  to  give  asperity  to  our  intercourse ; 
and  with  the  intellects  and  feelings  of  such  men  as  Mont- 
gomery and  Holland  employed  on  so  delightful  a  theme  as 
that  of  genuine  Christianity,  its  character,  state,  and  glori- 
ous prospects,  I  could  only  regret  the  arrival  of  the  hour  of 
our  separation.  Mr.  Holland  is  a  layman,  the  present  editor 
of  the  Iris,  the  ultimate  friend  of  Montgomery,  and  like  him, 
a  poet." 

At  eleven  o'clock  Friday  morning.  Dr.  Mihior  went  with 


MISSION  TO  ENG-LAND.  389 

Mr.  Best  to  the  stated  monthly  meeting  of  the  Female 
Church  Missionary  Association,  composed  of  pious  ladies  of 
all  the  Episcopal  congregations  of  Sheffield,  and  lectured 
before  them  for  an  hour  from  Romans  10  ;  after  which,  he 
dined  with  a  small  party  of  friends  at  Mr.  Congreve's.  Mr. 
Montgomery  was  detained  by  business  from  the  dinner,  "but 
came  in  immediately  afterwards,"  says  Dr.  Milnor,  "  and 
again  gratified  us  with  the  exhibition  of  high  intellect,  united 
with  deep  spirituality,  and  a  most  ardent  interest  in  all  the 
means  w^hich,  in  our  favored  day,  the  providence  of  Grod  has 
put  in  action  for  the  advancement  of  Christ's  kingdom  in 
the  world  and  in  the  hearts  of  men." 

From  dinner  they  all  adjourned  to  the  public  meeting, 
which  had  been  called,  of  all  the  Bible  associations  of  Shef- 
field. At  this  meeting  also  Dr.  Milnor  made  an  address. 
He  occupied  an  hour  in  "  giving  some  account  of  the  state 
of  religion  and  of  religious  institutions  in  America,  especially 
in  relation  to  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  and  of  Tracts; 
and  in  considering  what  was  the  duty  of , every  Christian 
under  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  present  times." 
"  Mr.  Montgomery  made  the  closing  speech,  with  a  warm 
glow  of  religious  feeling,  and  an  aflectionate  importunity  of 
expression.  His  only  difficulty  seemed  to  lie  in  finding  vent 
for  the  Hood  of  ideas  that  constantly  rushed  into  his  mind. 
This  made  him  occasionally  stammer  for  a  moment ;  but  a 
short  pause  always  restored  his  self-possession  ;  and  his  plain 
but  forcible  delivery  riveted  the  attention  of  his  hearers. 
His  acknowledgments  to  myself,"  adds  Dr.  Milnor,  "were 
full  of  Christian  warmth  and  affection  ;  and  his  allusions  to 
my  country  of  most  touching  interest." 

On  Saturday,  he  accomparued  Mr.  John  Sanderson  to  his 
fine  old  country-mansion,  Darnel  Hall,  surrounded  by  grounds 
of  the  most  perfect  neatness,  and  covered  with  the  richest 
verdure.  At  this  charming  retreat  he  remained  till  the 
Monday  following,  attending  service  Sunday  morning  at  St. 
James',  where  he  heard  an  impressive  discourse  from  Mr. 


390  MEMOm  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

Best ;  at  the  parish  church  in  the  afternoon,  where  the  vicar, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Sutton,  preached ;  and  at  St.  George's  chapel 
in  the  evening,  where  the  Rev.  Mr.  Langston  officiated.  He 
adds  the  following  note  touching  the  good  vicar  : 

"  Mr.  Sutton  was,  some  years  ago,  of  very  different  sen- 
timents and  feelings  from  those  which  he  expressed  in  this 
day's  pious  discourse.  As  vicar,  he  has  the  appointment, 
not  only  of  his  own  curates,  hut  of  the  ministers  of  the  chap- 
els, three  new  ones  having  been  recently  built  with  the  aid 
of  the  Parliamentary  commissioners,  making  the  whole  num- 
ber in  the  parish  six.  These,  with  the  parish  church,  are 
all  supplied  with  evangelical  pastors  ;  men  who  see  eye  to 
eye,  are  universally  beloved  by  all  denominations,  and  are 
giving  a  more  powerful  impulse,  moral  and  religious,  to  this 
populous  town,  than  is,  perhaps,  found  in  any  other  manu- 
facturing centre  in  the  kingdom.  Happy  are  the  people  who 
have  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Sutton  to  preside  over  their  spiritual 
concerns,  and  happy  is  Mr.  Sutton  in  being  surrounded  by 
men  of  consentaneous  views,  whose  only  strife  is,  who  shall 
most  earnestly  contend  for  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  and  most 
industriously  labor,  under  God,  to  bring  souls  to  Christ." 

On  Monday  morning,  he  took  leave  of  Sheffield  and  its 
loved  circle  of  Christian  spirits  ;  adding,  in  his  journal, 
this  reference  to  one  whose  memory  is  dear  to  other  hearts 
than  his. 

"I  had  parted  with  Mr.  Montgomery  at  his  own  house, 
just  before  evening  service  yesterday,  when  I  took  tea  and 
passed  an  hour  and  a  half  in  delightful  commiuiion  of  feeUng 
with  this  gifted  poet  and  most  devoted  Christian.  I  experi- 
enced, in  parting  from  him,  much  of  that  painful  emotion, 
which  I  am  now,  towards  the  close  of  my  visit  to  Eng- 
land, so  often  obHged  to  suffer,  and  which  is  excited  by  the 
thoughts  of  taking  my  last  leave,  in  this  world,  of  some  of 
the  most  estimable  men  who  tread  its  surface.  May  it  be 
my  blessed  privilege  to  meet  them  in  inseparable  union  in  a 
better  world." 


MISSION   TO  ENaLAND.  391 

According  to  his  wish  it  has  already  Jiappened.  Teign- 
mouth  and  Uyder,  Gregory  and  Gurney,  Wilberforce  and 
Clarkson,  Zachary  Macauley  and  Bishop  Burgess,  Rowland 
Hill  and  Eobert  Hall,  Simeon  and  Chalmers,  William  Allen 
and  Hannah  More,  are  gone :  Milnor  is  with  them,  and  oth- 
ers of  the  good  and  noble  throng  with  which  he  mingled  a 
while  on  earth,  are  on  the  way  :  great  spirits,  all ;  elders 
and  saints  in  the  one  holy  church  universal ;  citizens  ever 
of  the  one  great  kingdom  of  Christ. 

Upon  his  return  to  London,  whither  he  went  directly 
from  Sheffield,  Dr.  Milnor's  engagements  were  almost  wholly 
of  a  business  character.  He  found  himself  loaded  with  letters 
and  papers  from  New  York,  wliich  developed,  to  his  surprise, 
an  anonymous  controversy  which  had  followed  the  appear- 
ence  of  Bishop  Hobart's  public  letter,  but  of  which,  until  that 
moment,  he  had  been  utterly  ignorant.  He  reflected  upon 
these  developments  like  a  man  writing  under  a  strong  sense 
of  injured  feelings  ;  and  filled  page  after  page  with  proofs  of 
what  he  had  stated  in  his  journal,  and  of  the  profound  as- 
tonishment of  the  London  rehgious  public  at  the  manner  in 
which  his  address  before  the  Prayer-Book  and  Homily  Society 
had  been  misapprehended. 

There  would  be  little  interest  in  following  him  through 
the  various  details  of  business  which  now  occupied  his  time 
in  London.  He  attended  faithfully  to  all  the  more  private 
commissions  with  which  he  had  come  charged,  but  gave 
special  attention  to  that  which  he  bore  from  "The  Domestic 
and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  "  of  his  own  church.  In  this 
duty  he  spent  much  time,  making  himself  familiar  with  the 
internal  arrangements  and  the  external  operations  of  "  The 
Church  Missionary  Society,"  and  of  "  The  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  and  furnishing 
himself  with  all  the  information  and  documents,  which  could 
be  of  service  to  our  church  in  the  infancy  of  her  missionary 
institutions.  In  these  engagements  he  amply  qualified  him- 
self for  the  important  position  which  he  was  subsequently 


392  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

called  to  occupy  in  the  practical  direction  of  our  own  mis- 
sionary work,  both  domestic  and  foreign. 

He  also  devoted  some  time  to  perfecting  his  acquaintance 
with  the  topography  of  London  and  its  environs,  in  cultivat- 
mg  the  Christian  friendships  which  he  had  already  formed, 
an  1  in  taking  formal  leave  of  the  public  bodies  to  which  he 
had  been  a  delegate.  The  ceremonies  which  marked  his 
adieus  to  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  were  of  suf- 
ficient interest  to  justify  in  this  place  a  fuller  notice.  We 
give  it  in  his  own  words. 

"Monday,  Sept.  6. — At  twelve  o'clock,  attended  a  stated 
meeting  of  the  committee  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  ;  Lord  Bexley  in  the  chair. 

"  When  I  was  introduced  by  the  secretary,  Mr.  Bran- 
dram,  the  committee  had  been  some  time  in  session.  Soon 
after  I  entered,  his  lordship  rose,  and  addressed  me  to  the 
following  purport. 

*' '  It  is  my  pleasing  duty,  reverend  sir,  to  communicate 
to  you  the  result  of  the  deliberations  in  which  the  committee 
have  just  been  engaged.  They  are  informed  that  you  are 
about  to  return  to  your  native  land ;  and  the  committee 
cannot  suffer  you  to  depart  without  signifying  to  you  the 
high  gratification  which  your  visit  has  allbrded  them,  and 
the  great  utihty  with  which  it  has  been  attended.  The 
resolutions  themselves,  however,  express  the  feelings  of  the 
committee  better  than  I  can  in  any  verbal  communication. 
I  will  read  them.'  Here  his  lordship  read  the  resolutions, 
and  then  continued  :  *  I  will  add  to  what  is  here  said,  my 
personal  persuasion  of  the  importance  of  uniting  our  most 
strenuous  eflbrts  for  the  universal  diffusion  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures ;  and  particularly  of  maintaining,  between  your 
great  society  and  ours,  a  constant  intercourse  and  coopera- 
tion in  this  great  work.  This  is  a  most  important  crisis. 
There  seems  to  be  a  mighty  conflict,  just  now,  between  the 
powers  of  light  and  darkness.  God  is  on  our  side,  and  will 
give  us  the  victory ;  but  the  battle  must  be  fought,  and  it 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  393 

will  require  our  most  diligent  and  united  exertions  to  secure 
success.  I  hope,  sir,  your  respected  society  will  be  persuaded 
of  the  obligations  under  which  we  lie  to  them  for  sending 
you  to  us  as  their  representative,  and  of  our  grateful  sense  of 
the  acceptable  manner  in  which  you  have  fulfilled  the  hon- 
orable trust  committed  to  your  charge.  Be  assured,  reverend 
sir,  we  shall  retain  a  grateful  remembrance  of  your  public 
services,  and  of  the  personal  intercourse  which  we  have  had 
with  you.  You  carry  with  you  our  high  respect  and  esteem, 
our  Christian  affection  and  regard.  Our  earnest  prayers  will 
attend  you,  that  you  may  be  favored  with  a  safe  and  pros- 
perous voyage ;  that  you  may  meet  your  beloved  family  in 
health  and  happiness ;  that  your  multiplied  labors  may  be 
prolonged  to  your  congregation,  and  to  this  and  other  useful 
operations  of  our  day  in  which  you  are  engaged  ;  and  that 
we  may  at  last  meet  you  in  God's  heavenly  kingdom.' 

"  This  address  was  entirely  unexpected,  and  a  little  embar- 
rassed me.  I  stood  during  its  delivery,  and  then  answered  in 
the  same  extemporaneous  manner,  nearly  in  these  terms  : 

" '  My  Lord — I  am  much  affected  by  this  unlooked-for 
evidence  of  the  kindness  of  yourself  and  the  coipmittee.  In 
behalf  of  the  American  Society,  I  return  you  my  thanks  for 
the  obliging  manner  in  which  you  have  expressed  your  ap- 
probation of  their  act  in  sending  a  delegate  to  your  interest- 
ing anniversary,  and  to  confer  with  you  on  the  interests  ol 
that  great  work  in  which  we  are  engaged, 

"  '  For  your  approbation  of  the  manner  in  which  I  have 
fulfilled  the  duties  of  my  appointment,  I  beg  to  make  my 
personal  acknowledgments,  though  sensible  how  little  I  de- 
serve the  eulogy  which  your  lordship  and  the  committee 
have  passed  upon  my  feeble  services.  T  shall  return  to  my 
country  with  many  delightful  remembrances  of  my  visit  to 
England  ;  and  among  them  the  most  pleasing  will  be,  that 
of  my  intercourse  with  the  officers  of  this  society,  and  the 
members  of  its  committee. 

" '  In  taking  my  final  leave  of  them,  will  your  lordship 
17*^ 


394  MEMOIR  OF   DR.   MILNOR. 

and  the  committee  excuse  me  for  reiterating  the  anxious 
wish  which  I  have  heretofore  expressed,  that  one  or  more 
delegates  from  this  society  may  be  sent  to  the  anniversary 
of  ours  next  spring?  Nothing,  I  am  convinced,  will  be 
found  more  promotive  of  union  and  cooperation  between  the 
two  institutions,  than  tliis  interchange  of  friendly  gratula- 
tions  and  mutual  aid  at  our  yearly  commemorations.  I 
venture  to  assure  your  lordship,  that  your  delegates  will  be 
received  with  Christian  kindness  and  respect  in  our  ruder 
land  ;  and  perhaps,  while  they  are  profiting  us,  and  assisting 
the  cause  of  Christ  in  the  western  world,  they  may  find 
some  gratification  in  the  scenery  of  our  country,  and  in  a 
personal  acquaintance  with  our  institutions  and  people. 

*'  *  Your  lordship  and  the  committee  wHl  allow  me  to  say 
with  what  grateful  emotions  I  receive  your  kind  wishes  for 
my  safe  return  to  my  beloved  family  and  flock.  I  will  de- 
tain you  from  your  important  duties  no  longer  than  to  add, 
that  I  sincerely  reciprocate  the  feelings  which  you  have  been 
pleased  to  express  towards  me,  by  imploring  a  blessing  on 
your  labors  in  our  glorious  cause,  and  praying  that  health 
and  happiness  may  attend  you  individually  here,  and  that 
the  felicity  of  heaven  may  be  your  everlasting  portion.' 

"  His  lordship  replied,  that  the  committee  were  fully 
impressed  with  the  duty  and  advantage  of  sending  one  or 
more  delegates  to  America,  as  proposed  by  me ;  but  the  dif- 
ficulty of  finding  gentlemen  who  were  fitted  for  the  office, 
and  at  the  same  time  willing  to  assume  it,  had  hitherto 
prevented  any  positive  measure  on  the  subject.  '  I  am  per- 
suaded,' he  added,  '  there  is  not  one  of  us  who  would  not 
consider  himself  liiglily  honored  by  such  a  commission, 
though  many  obstacles  might  lie  in  the  way  of  its  accept- 
ance. We  shall,  however,  keep  the  matter  before  us ;  and 
if  it  can  be  accomplished,  it  will  aflbrd  us,  reverend  sir,  the 
greatest  pleasure  to  comply  with  your  suggestions.' 

"After  remaining  with  the  committee  a  short  time 
longer,  other  engagements  obliged  me  to  withdraw." 


MISSION   TO  ENG-LAND.  395 

After  this  meeting,  Dr.  Milnor  went  to  dine  again  with 
Zachary  Macauley,  of  Christian  Observer'memory  ;  and  his 
account  of  the  occasion  is  worthy  of  preservation. 

"Mr.  Macauley's  personal  appearance,"  says  he,  "is 
that  of  a  heavy,  dull  man ;  but  in  reahty  he  is  entirely  the 
opposite  of  this.  One  of  his  friends  observed  to  me,  '  He  is 
a  library  of  knowledge ;  and  it  is  quite  a  common  thing 
among  us,  on  almost  all  subjects,  if  a  question  is  asked 
w:hich  we  are  unable  to  answer,  to  say,  Well,  we'll  ask 
Macauley;  he  can  tell  us.'  He  is  full  of  conversation,  but 
glad  to  hear  that  of  others  ;  and  when  it  depends  on  him  to 
give  it  a  direction,  it  is  uniformly  to  serious  and  important 
subjects.  He  is  a  man  of  decided,  cheerful  piety,  and  of 
great  usefulness  in  many  of  the  national  institutions  estab- 
lished for  its  promotion.  Of  the  committee  of  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society  he  is  a  very  active  member,  as 
well  as  of  several  other  societies. 

"  Mr.  Macauley  is  well  acquainted  with  Robert  Owen, 
who  is  giving  public  lectures  in  London,  on  his  plans  for  the 
reformation  of  the  world  by  the  substitution  of  reason  for 
revelation.  He  considers  Owen,  as  do  many  others,  to  be 
partially  deranged ;  of  which  there  can  be  no  stronger  evi- 
dence than  the  delusion  under  which  his  mind  continually 
labors,  that  his  abstruse  disquisitions  before  his,  for  the  most 
part,  illiterate  audiences,  are  actually  producing  a  great  rev- 
olution in  public  sentiment ;  and  that,  in  a  shoit  time,  gov- 
ernment i^elf  will  openly  espouse  his  Utopian  schemes. 
Some  years  ago,  before  his  infidelity  was  so  well  known,  he 
had  a  conference,  at  his  own  request,  with  a  number  of  dis- 
tinguished gentlemen,  including  several  who  then  belonged 
to  the  administration.  They  listened  to  his  strange  devel- 
opments, and  there  the  matter  ended ;  but  he  told  Mr.  Ma- 
cauley he  was  confident  he  had  made  the  whole  company 
converts  to  his  scheme.  On  another  occasion,  he  fancied 
that  the  bishops  and  clergy  were  beginning  to  see  their 
errors,  and  would  embrace  his  views.     He  called  on  the 


396  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  the  Bishop  of  London,  who 
treated  him  civilly,  and  as  Macauley  expressed  it,  bowed 
him  out  of  the  house.  Their  silence  in  relation  to  his  com- 
munications was  to  him  conclusive  evidence  of  entire  coinci- 
dence in  his  views ;  and  he  reported  to  Macauley,  very  ex- 
ultingly,  his  success  with  these  dignitaries  of  the  church. 
Mr.  Macauley  told  him  perhaps  he  was  mistaken  in  this ; 
and  that  the  right  way  to  test  the  matter  would  be  to  engage 
them  to  bring  before  Parliament  some  proposition  on  the 
subject.  He  took  the  hint,  and  actually  called  upon  them 
again,  and  made  the  suggestion  recommended ;  when  they 
soon  gave  him  to  understand,  what  courtesy  had  before  pre- 
vented, that  they  considered  him  a  visionary,  and  his  plans 
downright  nonsense. 

"  The  community,  as  he  termed  it,  at  Lanark,  in  Scot- 
land, owes  any  success  that  has  attended  it  as  a  large  man 
ufacturing  establishment,  to  his  having  as  his  associates, 
religious  men.  William  Allen,  the  distinguished  Cluaker, 
was  captivated  with  some  parts  of  his  scheme,  and  united 
with  him ;  but  at  once  departed  from  so  much  of  it  as  went 
to  exclude  the  services  and  influences  of  religion  ;  and  their 
determmation  to  lay  aside  many  other  of  his  whims  led  to 
the  necessity  of  jfinally  dismissing  him  from  all  agency  in 
the  concern. 

"  Mr.  Macauley  is  on  terms  of  friendship  and  intercourse 
with  Mr.  Drummond,  Mr.  McNeile,  and  others  of  the  pro- 
phetical school,  and  speaks  highly  of  the  talents  and  piety  ol 
many  of  them  ;  but  he  has  not  the  slightest  tincture  of  their 
errors,  and  thinks  the  absurdities  into  which  those  of  them 
who  are  churchmen  are  now  running,  of  uniting  ultra-high- 
churchmanship  with  excessive  Calvinism,  rigid  views  of 
election  with  baptismal  regeneration,  full  assurance  as  a 
necessary  part  of  true  faith,  with  declamations  against  obe- 
dience as  any  evidence  of  its  being  warrantably  asserted  ;  the 
persuasion  of  the  speedy  advent  of  Christ,  with  opposition  to 
Bible  societies  and  other  religious  efforts :  these,  with  other 


MISSION   TO  ENaLAND.  397 

strange  views  about  the  continuance  oftlie  power  of  miracles, 
the  universal  pardon  of  sin,  the  justification  of  the  elect  before 
their  actual  conversion,  etc.,  will  be  likely  to  prevent  the 
general  spread  of  their  main  error,  that  of  looking  for  the 
coming  of  Christ  to  establish  a  ternqjoral  kingdom  upon  earth, 
instead  of  his  coming  into  the  hearts  of  men  by  the  enlight- 
ening and  sanctifying  influences  of  his  Spirit ;  and,  after  the 
millennium,  appearing  with  power  and  great  glory  in  the 
heavens,  as  the  final  Judge  of  quick  and  dead." 

It  would  be  pleasing  to  read  Dr.  Milnor's  account  of  his 
dinner  on  Saturday,  Sept.  11,  with  that  unostentatious  Chris- 
tian nobleman.  Lord  Bexley,  at  his  beautiful  seat.  Foot's 
Cray,  in  Kent,  twelve  miles  from  London ;  but  his  journal 
has  already  occupied  more  space  than  was  intended  in  his 
memoirs,  and  the  reader  must  therefore  hasten  with  us  to  the 
period  of  his  return  to  America. 

Before  his  final  departure  from  London  he  made  an  ex- 
cursion to  Cambridge,  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  acquaint- 
ed at  the  university.  Unfortunately  most  of  the  professors 
had  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege  of  vacation,  and  were 
absent,  but  he  found  delightful  intercourse  with  one  whom 
he  styles  "  an  Israelite  indeed,"  Professor  Parish,  "  a  man  of 
learning  and  piety,  and  of  most  unassuming  and  amiable 
manners."  Nor  did  he  miss  an  opportunity  for  further 
acquaintance  with  "  the  venerable  Simeon,  who  for  fifty 
years  had  been  a  blessing  to  the  university  and  town  of 
Cambridge." 

Having  despatched  all  matters  of  business,  and  taken  all 
his  other  adieus,  his  closing  visit  in  London  was  to  the  truly 
noble  president  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
Lord  Teignmouth,  in  Portman  Square. 

"  We  found  his  lordship,"  he  remarks,  "  in  his  library. 
He  is  now  eighty-six  years  of  age,  and  experiences  many  of 
the  infirmities  of  a  man  of  such  advanced  years.  He  receiv- 
ed me  with  great  affability  of  manner,  and  expressed  much 
regret,  that  his  indisposition  had  prevented  his  attending  the 


398  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

anniversary  of  the  Bible  Society,  and  deprived  him  of  the 
pleasure  of  paying  me  personal  attentions  during  my  stay  in 
England.  His  memory  of  recent  transactions  has  become 
very  imperfect ;  and  that,  more  than  any  other  circumstance, 
has  latterly  unfitted  him  for  the  active  duties  of  president, 
which  he  has  chiefly  devolved  on  Lord  Bexley. 

"  We  spent  an  hour  with  his  lordship,  and  the  interview 
left  a  strong  impression  on  my  mind  in  favor  of  his  piety  and 
benevolence.  His  literary  talents  will  be  as  highly  estimated 
by  those  who  have  read  his  excellent  biography  of  Sir  Will- 
iam Jones.  He  conducted  us  to  the  door,  and  desired  me  to 
present  his  best  respects  to  the  managers  of  the  American 
Bible  Society ;  to  assure  them  of  the  benefits,  in  his  opin- 
ion, attendant  on  missions  such  as  mine ;  and  to  commu- 
nicate his  particular  regards  to  Col.  Varick,  our  venerable 
president." 

Dr.  Milnor  left  London  on  Wednesday,  Sept.  15,  in  com- 
pany with  Mr.  Brandram,  on  his  way  to  Liverpool,  taking 
Oxford  in  his  route,  and  stopped  the  first  night  at  Henley- 
upon-Thames.  The  inn  at  this  place  is  a  rare  one,  and 
tempts  us  to  pause  long  enough  to  give  Dr.  Milnor's  short 
account  of  his  evening  there. 

"  We  arrived  at  Henley  about  dark,  and  took  lodgings  at 
the  house  of  Mrs.  Dixon,  an  inn  immediately  on  the  bank  of 
the  Thames,  and  at  the  entrance  of  the  town.  Mrs.  Dixon 
is  a  singularly  pious  member  of  the  established  church,  has 
a  son  associated  with  her  who  is  like-minded,  and  endeavors 
to  make  all  around  her  partakers  of  the  happiness  which  she 
enjoys  as  a  consistent  disciple  of  Christ.  Her  estabhshment 
is  large,  and  it  is  impracticable  for  her  whole  household  to 
attend  on  religious  duties  at  any  one  time.  She  therefore  has 
reading  of  the  Scriptures  and  prayers  three  times  a  day,  and 
makes  her  arrangements  so  that  every  servant  attends  mie, 
and  most  of  them  two  services  daily.  Mr.  Brandram  being 
an  old  acquaintance,  Mrs.  Dixon  proposed,  soon  after  our 
arrival,  that  we  should  allow  her  to  invite  some  of  her  neigh- 


MISSION   TO  ENaLAKD.  399 

bors  to  Scripture  exposition  and  prayer  in  the  evening,  and 
also  the  following  morning.  Accordingly,  Mr.  Brandram 
read  and  expounded  at  nine  o'clock,  and  I  prayed ;  and  the 
next  morning,  at  nine,  I  conducted  lecture  and  prayer  before 
a  company  which  filled  a  large  room.  Our  good  landlady 
and  her  son  expressed  much  gratitude,  and  we  took  our  leave 
of  them  for  Oxford  about  ten  o'clock." 

We  have  now  done  with  Dr.  Milnor's  journal  of  his  visit 
to  England.  For,  though,  as  at  Cambridge,  he  saw  all  that 
was  worthy  of  examination  at  Oxford,  yet  he  found  the  lat- 
ter university  still  more  effectually  vacated  than  the  former — 
not  a  professor,  nor  more  than  here  and  there  a  straggling 
student,  within  the  shades  of  those  venerable  halls.  He 
reached  Liverpool  the  20th  of  September,  and  embarked  on 
the  27th.  He  kept  no  journal  on  his  return-voyage  to  New 
York,  had  a  safe,  though  long  passage,  and  reached  home  on 
Saturday,  the  30th  of  October.  "When  she  approached  the 
harbor,  the  ship  received  her  pilot,  and  as  he  stepped  upon 
her  deck  and  recognized  Dr.  Milnor  among  the  eager  crowd 
of  listeners  for  news,  his  first  words  to  him  conveyed  the  start- 
ling intelligence,  "  Bishop  Hobart  is  dead  V 

Thus  ended  every  discord  between  those  early  friends. 
Their  course  ran  not  always  smoothly  through  this  jarring 
world  ;  but  we  may  believe  it  is  peaceful  now,  not  only  in 
their  union  of  heart,  but  also  in  their  oneness  of  views,  as 
they  look  together  on  unshadowed  truth,  and,  seeing  eye  to 
eye,  admire  the  eternal  things  of  God. 

To  the  American  societies  which  he  had  represented  in 
England,  Dr.  Milnor,  after  his  return,  made  careful  reports 
of  his  doings,  and  from  them  received  expressions  of  heart- 
felt thanks. 

To  himself,  personally,  Dr.  Milnor's  intercourse  in  Eng- 
land, and  in  the  other  countries  which  he  visited,  was  a 
source  of  abundant  pleasure,  and  of  real  profit.  Not  igno- 
rant previously  of  public  men,  and  public  life,  he  greatly 
extended  his  familiarity  and  intercourse  with  both,  and  re- 


400  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

turned  laden  with  profitable  stores  for  thought  and  reflection 
as  well  as  with  delightful  memories  of  men  and  things. 
Nor  did  he  bring  away  blessings  without  leavkig  blessings 
behind.  His  elevated  Christian  character,  and  his  ready 
practical  talents,  secured  him  a  facile  and  useful  currency  in 
the  highest  and  best  religious  circles,  and  l|^t  in  his  pathway 
many  precious  and  abiding  impressions  of  an  active  benevo- 
lence. Four  years  after  his  return  the  present  writer  was 
in  England,  and  found  himself,  at  almost  every  step,  meeting 
with  traces  of  Dr.  Milnor's  influence,  and  with  proofs  of  the 
high  consideration  in  which  he  was  everywhere  held.  There 
was  a  sweet  savor  to  his  name  in  Great  Britain,  and  a  letter 
of  commendation  from  him  was  itself  a  quick  and  sufficient 
passport  both  to  confidence  and  to  kindness,  wherever  kind- 
ness and  confidence  were  most  to  be  desired. 

In  prefacing  the  introduction  of  his  journal  into  these 
pages,  an  intimation  was  given  that  more  would  be  said  of 
the  RESULTS  of  Dr.  Milnor's  mission.  What  those  results 
were,  as  to  the  details  of  business  actually  transacted,  the 
reader  has  had  some  opportunity  of  judging.  These,  how- 
ever, were  the  least  important  that  followed  in  the  train. 
The  infl[uence  of  his  mission  upon  the  relations  of  our  own 
Episcopal  missionary  organizations  and  operations  with  those 
of  the  mother  country,  has  been  most  beneficial.  He  brought 
home  an  amount  of  practical  knowledge  in  the  management 
of  missions,  which  we  had  not  before  possessed  ;  and  he 
opened  channels  of  full  and  free  sympathy  and  intercourse, 
between  ourselves  and  our  brethren  abroad,  where  there 
had  previously  been  but  little  of  the  flux  and  reflux  of  living 
activities. 

His  mission,  moreover,  gave  him  an  interest  and  a  stand- 
hig  in  the  cause  of  education  for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  which 
he  carried  through  life,  and  which  made  his  subsequent  ser- 
vices so  important  in  the  New  York  institution  for  that  inter- 
esting class  of  his  lellow-men.  He  obtained,  too,  a  know- 
ledge of  the  posture  of  the  afliiirs  of  Kenyon  college  in  Eng- 


MISSION  TO  ENaLAND.  401 

land,  which  was  afterwards  of  great  value  to  the  interests  of 
that  young  and  imperilled  seat  of  learning  at  the  West. 

But  without  dwelling  upon  particulars  like  these,  one  of 
the  happiest  results  of  his  mission  is  seen  in  the  new  rela- 
tions which  have  since  arisen  between  the  noble  brother- 
hood of  Christian  societies  in  Great  Britain,  and  their  equally- 
noble  fraternity  in  the  United  States  ;  especially  in  those 
mutual  delegations  to  represent  each  other  at  their  anni- 
versary celebrations,  which  have  become  of  such  frequent 
occurrence. 

It  is  needless  to  say,  unless  to  such  as  have  not  reflected 
on  this  subject,  that  these  great  religious  associations  in  the 
two  countries,  exhibit  one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of 
our  age ;  not  merely  in  the  vast  amounts  of  money  which 
they  collect  and  apply  to  the  difiusion,  through  the  world,  of 
correspondingly  vast  amounts  of  religious  truth,  and  light, 
and  living  labors,  but  also  in  the  immense  mfluence  which 
they  exert  upon  society  ;  in  the  rich  treasures  of  knowledge, 
facts,  and  statistics,  geographical,  historical,  and  scientific, 
which  they  are  gathermg  home  from  all  lands  ;  and  in  their 
practical  action  upon  even  the  governments  both  of  barbarian 
and  of  civilized  countries.  These  institutions  have  already 
a  history  and  a  literature,  which  are  yearly  growing  richer 
and  richer,  and  which  will  be  known  and  felt,  not  only 
through  all  coming  periods  of  the  divine  kingdom  upon  earth, 
but  also  on  the  pages  of  those  who,  with  an  enlightened  and 
adequate  after-thought,  shall  undertake  to  sketch  the  for- 
tunes of  the  lower  kingdoms  of  this  world. 

It  will  be  remembered,  then,  that  in  relation  to  these 
grand  institutions,  Dr.  Milnor's  mission  stands  first  in  the 
series  of  delegations  and  interchanges,  which  have  since 
characterized  and  given  such  intensity  of  life  to  their  mutual 
intercourse,  and  which  have  contributed  so  largely  to  quicken 
and  deepen  the  circulations  of  Christian  truth  and  influence 
through  the  earth.  Doubtless,  the  idea  of  this  mission  did 
not  originate  with  him ;  and  it  may  not  be  possible  to  say 


402  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

with  whom  it  did  originate.  The  truth  is,  hke  many  other 
great  things,  it  seems  to  have  originated  with  no  one  in  par- 
ticular, hut  with  multitudes  in  common.  It  was  the  asking 
of  the  religious  age.  There  was,  in  the  mind  of  the  religious 
puhlic,  a  deep  feeling  of  the  need  of  such  a  system  of  hving 
intercourse — a  silent  shapmg  of  events  towards  an  open  and 
sensible  issue ;  and  it  was  the  position  which  God,  in  his 
providence,  had  assigned  to  Dr.  Milnor,  in  the  affairs  of 
active  American  Christianity,  that  pointed  him  out  as  the 
first,  and  perhaps  the  fittest  embodiment  of  the  idea  thus 
distinctly  conceived  in  the  inner  sense  of  the  age,  and  sent 
him  forth  to  be  its  first  living,  speaking,  and  acting  expo- 
nent before  men. 

Others  have  since  followed  him,  from  both  sides  of  the 
waters,  who  may  have  possessed  higher  powers  of  personal 
display,  and  for  immediate  popular  impression ;  but  few,  if 
any,  in  the  series,  have  equalled  him  in  the  prestige  of  name, 
and  standing,  and  well-earned,  well-settled  influence  :  while 
none  have  surpassed  him  in  qualifications  for  the  busmess  of 
such  an  agency  ;  and  none  have  left  behind  them  more  hal- 
lowed and  unstained  memorials  as  a  Christian,  gentleman, 
and  friend. 


HIS   MINISTRY.  403 

PART    V. 

DR.    MILNOR'S  MINISTRY  FROM  1830  TO  1845. 


SECTION  I. 

In  entering  on  an  account  of  that  portion  of  Dr.  Milnor's 
ministry  which  followed  his  return  from  England,  it  will  be 
proper  to  take  a  brief  notice  of  his  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
Kenyon  college. 

Among  the  various  efforts  for  the  endowment  of  that 
institution,  one  resulted  in  founding  "  The  Milnor  Professor- 
sliip  of  Divinity."  This  professorship  was  endowed  chiefly 
by  members  of  St.  George's,  and  the  endowment  was  pre- 
sented to  Kenyon  college,  subject  to  the  condition  that  the 
nomination  of  the  incumbent  should  reside  in  Dr.  Milnor 
during  his  natural  life.  In  this  professorship  he  of  course 
felt  a  deep  interest,  and  this  interest  very  naturally  extended 
itself  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole  institution.  Hence,  when 
he  went  to  England,  he  went  commissioned  by  Bishop  Chase 
to  have  a  friendly  eye  to  the  interests  of  the  college  in  that 
country. 

About  this  period  arose  Bishop  Chase's  troubles  with  the 
trustees,  ending  in  the  resignation  of  his  jurisdiction  of  the 
diocese  of  Ohio,  and,  as  involved  in  that,  his  presidency  of 
Kenyon  college.  During  these  developments  and  changes, 
the  troubles  of  the  college  thickened,  and  days  of  darkness 
passed  over  its  history.  The  Milnor  professorship,  the  en- 
dowment of  which  was  not  yet  quite  full,  was  in  danger  of 
being  lost ;  and  the  college  itself  seemed  almost  sinking  under 
its  embarrassments. 

Through  all  these  trials.  Dr.  Milnor's  knowledge  of  the 
affairs  of  the  institution  in  this  country  and  in  England,  and 


404  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

his  strong  interest  in  them,  enabled  and  prompted  him  to  be 
of  great  service  to  the  bishop  and  his  enterprise.  He  pledged 
himself  to  make  up,  out  of  his  own  private  purse  if  neces- 
sary, the  somewhat  large  deficiency  in  the  endowment  of 
the  Milnor  professorship  ;  and  as  a  means  of  relieving  the 
general  embarrassments  of  tlie  college,  counselled  the  sale 
of  the  northern  section  of  the  valuable  college  domain.  His 
nomination  of  Dr.  Sparrow  as  the  first  incumbent  of  the 
Milnor  professorship,  placed  an  able  and  learned  man  at  the 
head  of  the  divinity  department ;  and  when  Dr.  Sparrow 
accepted  the  professorship  of  systematic  theology  in  the  Vir- 
ginia Theological  Seminary,  the  nomination  of  Dr.  Fuller  as 
his  successor  placed  another  sound  instructor  in  the  same 
important  post  of  influence  to  our  church  at  the  West.  In- 
deed, next  to  those  who  have  been  invested  with  the  direct 
responsibility  of  founding  and  managing  Kenyon  college,  few, 
it  is  believed,  have  rendered  it  such  valuable  services  as  Dr. 
Milnor ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped,  that  through  the  professorship 
which  bears  his  name,  and  which  he  did  so  much  to  estab- 
lish, preserve,  and  perpetuate,  his  influence  will  be  felt,  ages 
to  come,  in  the  dissemination  of  a  sound  theology  and  an 
uncorrupted  piety  throughout  the  most  important  portion  of 
our  country.  To  proceed  now  with  matters  more  properly 
connected  with  this  memoir. 

It  is  a  long  time  since  any  reference  in  these  pages  has 
been  made  to  the  spiritual  condition  of  St.  George's  parish. 
The  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  one  of  his  clerical  cor- 
respondents will  show  that  but  a  few  months  passed,  after 
his  return  from  Europe,  before  he  was  permitted  to  gather 
some  rich  fruits  from  his  labors. 


To 


"New  York,  April  8,  1831. 
"  Rev.  and  dear  Brother — You  have,  of  course,  heard 
of  the  encouraging  state  of  religious  aflairs  in  New  York. 
A  time  of  deeper  solemnity,  in  many  congregations,  has 


HIS  MINISTRY.  405 

never  been  known.  Among  Presbyteriajis,  Methodists,  Re- 
formed Dutch,  and  Baptists,  conversions  have  been  very 
numerous,  and  new  cases  are  every  day  occurring — the 
greater  part  from  among  the  youth,  but  many  from  the  ranks 
of  aged  and  apparently  incorrigible  sinners.  In  Dr.  Lyell's 
congregation  there  is  more  attention  than  usual.  In  Mr. 
Mcllvaine's,"  in  Brooklyn,  "  much  interest  prevails  ;  and  he 
has  the  prospect  of  a  large  addition  to  the  number  of  his 
communicants.  To  my  own  list,  thirty-five  were  added  on 
Easter  Sunday  ;  and  the  whole  number  who  communicated 
on  that  delightful  day  exceeded  four  hundred — the  largest 
number  to  whom  I  have  ever  been  permitted  to  administer 
the  symbols  of  a  dying  Saviour's  love.  The  interest  still 
continues ;  and  I  am  looking,  alas,  with  too  small  a  measure 
of  faith,  for  its  increase. 

"  Will  you  please  to  accept  a  little  token  of  my  affec- 
tion, 'Bridges  on  the  Christian  Ministry,'  republished  by  Mr. 
Leavitt  on  my  recommendation  ?  When  shall  we  have  the 
privilege  of  meeting  ?  I  have  not  an  absent  friend  on  earth 
whom  I  am  more  desirous  of  seeing  than  yourself  Let  me 
say,  my  endeared  brother,  that  few  things  will  be  more  grati- 
fying to  me,  during  the  remainder  of  my  rapidly  passing 
days,  than  to  know  that  I  occupy  a  place  in  your  heart,  and 
to  cherish  you  as  one  having  a  most  near  and  intimate  in 
terest  in  my  own.  Let  us  speak  oftener  with  each  other, 
and  strengthen  one  another's  zeal  and  ardor  in  the  cause  of 
Him  whose  we  are  and  whom  we  serve.  The  Lord  bless 
and  keep  you  and  yours.  Commend  me  to  your  beloved 
partner,  and  believe  me  to  be,  in  eternal  bonds, 
"  Your  ever  affectionate 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

The  following  letter  to  the  same  correspondent  is  given 
b<;cause  it  contains  advice,  and  expresses  views,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  removals  from  one  parish  to  another,  which  ought, 
perhaps,  in  our  day,  to  be  more  widely  regarded. 


406  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

"New  York,  Sept.  8,  1831. 

"  My  dear  Friend — Your  letter  of  the  5th  I  have  just 
received.  That  I  answer  it  thus  promptly  you  are  to 
ascribe,  not  to  my  preparedness  to  do  so,  but  to  my  desire 
to  comply  as  far  as  I  can  with  your  wishes,  and  to  the 
fear  that,  in  this  respect,  I  should  gain  no  advantage  by 
delay. 

"  You  will  not  suspect  me  of  affecting  an  interest  in  your 
concerns  which  I  do  not  feel,  when  I  say  that  I  have  thought 
much  of  you  and  Kentucky,  since  we  conversed  together  at 
your  own  house ;  and  that  I  have  never  been  able  to  think 
more  favorably  of  the  project  than  I  did  at  that  time.  By 
information  from  various  quarters,  I  am  confirmed  in  the 
persuasion  that  you  occupy  a  sphere  of  great  and  growing 
usefulness.  So  far  as  the  objects  of  the  Christian  ministry 
are  concerned,  I  can  scarcely  conceive  of  a  more  desirable 
position  for  the  exercise  of  your  office,  whether  it  regard 
your  immediate  or  your  collateral  influence.  Now  it  ap- 
pears to  me,  that  the  influence  which  divine  Providence  has 
from  the  beginning  assigned  you,  is  of  a  religious  character ; 
and  this,  it  does  not  seem  to  me,  will  be  increased  by  a  re- 
moval to  L :  on  the  contrary,  it  may  be  impaired  by  its 

association  with  secular  pursuits.  As  to  the  assistant-min- 
istership,  that  w^ill  not  be  required,  unless  a  new  election  for 
bishop  should,  a  year  hence,  have  a  more  favorable  result 
than  the  late  mismanaged  attempt ;  and  I  fear,  that  if  the 

principal  object  for  removal  be  an  association  with  Mr. 's 

laudable  undertaking" — a  promising  literary  institution — 
"  the  opprobrium  will  be  cast  upon  you  of  being  biased  by  the 
pecuniary  advantages  which  it  offers,  as  well  as  of  fickleness 
and  a  desire  of  change.  Ought  it  not  to  be  a  principle  with 
every  clergyman,  not  to  leave  a  situation  of  undoubted  use- 
fulness for  any  other,  until  he  has  evidence,  of  the  most  sat- 
isfactory kind,  that  his  usefulness  will  be  enlarged  in  that 
to  which  he  is  invited  ?  Is  there  such  evidence  in  the  pres- 
ent case  ?     After  making  due  allowances  for  very  natural 


HIS   MINISTRY.  407 

feelings  on  the  part  of  Mr. and  Mr., ,  I  do  exceed- 
ingly question  whether  there  is  any  real  preponderance  in 

favor  of  L .     So  far  as  emolument  is  concerned,  the 

latter  place  would  seem,  from  the  statements  of  Mr. , 

to  present  a  powerful  inducement  to  become  his  associate  ; 
hut  it  is  pulpit-teaching,  and  not  literary  instruction,  which 
I  take  to  he  the  province  assigned  you  hy  our  common  Mas- 
ter ;  and  just  in  proportion  as  a  minister's  situation  calls 
him  from  the  former  to  the  latter,  I  have  ever  seen  his  char- 
acter and  influence,  as  an  ambassador  of  Christ,  deteriorate. 
There  is,  indeed,  an  apology  for  a  partial  and  even  an  entire 
transition  from  the  pulpit  to  the  school,  in  the  incompatibil- 
ity with  health  of  the  incessant  discharge  of  the  duties  of 
the  ministry.  But  I  hope  this  is  not  your  case.  Your  tem- 
porary weakness  has  been  produced  by  circumstances  of  a 
special  character,  only  now  and  then  occurring  in  any  con- 
gregation. Something  also  is  due  to  the  feelings  of  an  at- 
tached people,  who  have  a  right  to  expect  the  minister  of 
their  choice  and  affection  not  to  leave  them  but  upon  grounds 
of  duty  the  most  unquestioned. 

"  You  will  probably  think  there  is  more  of  decision  in 
this  conclusion,  than  you  had  reason  to  expect  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  letter ;  and  I  do  confess,  that  the  more  I  think 
upon  the  question  which  it  discusses,  the  more  averse  I  feel 
to  say  one  word  that  might  lead  to  the  sundering  of  your 
present  connection. 

"  But  after  all,  my  dear  brother,  I  have  no  such  partial- 
ity for  my  own  leanings  on  this  subject,  as  not  to  acquiesce 
in  any  conclusion  to  which  your  deeper  reflection  and  better 
judgment  may  conduct  you.  I  feel  quite  confident  that  you 
will  not  decide  upon  it  without  a  reference  to  that  great 
Being,  from  whom  '  all  good  counsels  do  proceed  ;'  and  what- 
ever may  be  your  conclusion,  you  will  remain  very  dear  to 
me,  and  I  trust  will  esteem  me 

"  Your  faithful  friend  and  Christian  brother, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 


408  MEMOIR  OF  DH.  MILNOR. 

In  the  year  1830,  a  "  Literary  Convention"  was  held  m 
the  city  of  New  York,  at  which  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  consider  and  report,  at  a  future  meeting,  on  "  the  propri- 
ety of  studying  the  Bible,  as  a  classic,  in  the  institutions  of 
a  Christian  country."  About  the  first  of  November,  1831, 
the  convention  reassembled,  and  the  committee  presented 
their  report.  "  After  an  extensive  correspondence  with  gen- 
tlemen of  various  religious  opinions,"  they  "  recommended 
in  their  report,  that  the  Bible  should  receive  the  respect  and 
attention  due  to  a  classic  in  our  literary  institutions."  To 
carry  this  recommendation  into  effect,  the  convention,  at 
their  session  in  1831,  appointed  a  second  committee  "to  pre- 
pare and  report  a  plan  of  biblical  instruction,  especially  in 
reference  to  the  academical  and  collegiate  course."  This 
important  committee  was  composed  of  Dr.  Milnor  as  chair- 
man, Dr.  Maclay,  W.  C.  Woodbridge,  Professor  Vethake,  and 
Professor  Woolsey  ;  and  was  instructed  to  report  its  plan  at 
a  meeting  of  the  convention  in  October,  1832.  Preparatory 
to  this  final  report,  the  committee,  through  their  chairman, 
issued  a  circular,  addressed  to  all  the  heads  of  colleges  and 
academies,  and  to  other  gentlemen  of  religious  influence  in 
the  country,  askhig  such  information  as  might  be  useful  to 
the  committee  in  devising  the  contemplated  plan  for  the 
general  study  of  the  Bible  as  an  academic  and  college  clas- 
sic. This  great  measure,  however,  failed  of  success.  Sev- 
eral letters,  among  the  papers  of  Dr.  Milnor,  in  reply  to  the 
circular  of  the  committee,  show  that  it  met  with  apparently 
insuperable  difficulties.  Yet  the  conception  was  noble  ;  and 
the  place  assigned  to  Dr.  Mihior,  in  the  attempt  to  realize 
it,  shows  the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held,  and  the 
relation  which  he  bore  to  the  great  religious  and  philan- 
thropic movements  of  his  age. 

It  was  not  long  after  his  return  from  Europe  before  his 
life  assumed  its  wonted  channel,  and  continued  to  flow  on 
year  after  year  in  quiet  but  ceaseless  activity.  In  follow- 
ing him,  therefore,  the  rest  of  his  way,  we  shall  have  little 


HIS  MINISTRY.  409 

to  do  but  to  give  such  letters  as  liaxe  been  preserved, 
illustrative  of  his  character  and  course,  notice  some  of  the 
more  important  events  in  which  he  was  yet  to  be  an  ac- 
tor, and  add  some  general  views  of  his  position  and  influ- 
ence. 

The  following  extracts  from  letters  to  his  son,  revive 
remembrances  of  the  gloomy  times  which  passed  over  New 
York  in  the  summer  of  1832,  when  "  the  cholera"  swept  so 
many  thousands  to  the  grave.  At  the  same  time  they  are 
interesting,  inasmuch  as  they  show,  that  during  all  the  hor- 
rors of  that  wasting  plague,  Dr.  Milnor  deserted  not  his  post, 
but  continued  his  ministries  among  both  the  living  and  the 
dead. 

"New  York,  July  21,  1832. 

"  Dear  Henry — The  daily  reports  of  the  board  of  health 
will  inform  you  of  the  general  state  of  things  here  in  regard 
to  the  prevailing  disease.  Yesterday's  report  was  the  most 
unfavorable  :  two  hundred  and  two  new  cases,  and  upwards 
of  eighty  deaths.  I  myself  awoke  yesterday  morning  with 
a  diarrhoea,  but  under  Dr.  Stearns'  advice,  took  five  pills  of 
his  preparing,  and  this  morning  find  myself  entirely  relieved. 
I  have  lost  but  one  parishioner,  old  Mr.  Mitchell  of  James- 
street.  He  was  at  church  on  Sunday,  sickened  on  Tuesday, 
and  died  Wednesday.  Many  die  in  from  one  to  three  hours 
after  the  attack.  Hitherto,  a  very  large  majority  of  the  cases, 
especially  of  those  that  prove  mortal,  are  of  persons  of  dis- 
solute or  irregular  habits  ;  and  from  the  great  number  of 
drunken  people  seen  in  the  streets,  it  would  seem  as  if  they 
were  bent  on  their  own  destruction.     There  is  no  sickness 

in  our  immediate  neighborhood.     M and  his  bar-keeper, 

who  kept  an  abominable  dram-shop,  were  taken  ill  at  nearly 
the  same  time,  and  died  in  a  few  hours.  I  continue  my  ser- 
vices as  usual.  This  afternoon  at  six  o'clock  I  have  my 
lecture  in  the  church,  preparatory  to  communion  on  Sunday 
next.  The  congregation  is  very  much  diminished,  but  on 
Sunday  last  there  were  more  than  I  could  have  expected. 

Mem.  Milnor.  1 8 


410  MEMOIR   OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

This  week,  however,  has  been  one  of  considerable  anxiety, 
and  many  have  removed. 

"  Your  affectionate  father, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 
To  the  same. 

"New  York,  Aug.  6,  1832. 

"  My  dear  Henry — We  have  heard,  with  great  regret, 
of  the  indisposition  of  your  cousin  William,  and  some  other 
members  of  the  family  whose  kindnesses  you  are  receiving ; 
and,  with  much  sorrow,  that  the  cholera  has  begun  its  work 
in  Philadelphia." 

[  This  letter  reached  his  son  while  he  was  resident-phy- 
sician in  the  Southwark  cholera  hospital,  to  which  the  first 
case  of  the  disease  in  Philadelphia  was  brought.  He  had 
not  informed  his  father  of  his  position,  lest  he  should  occa 
Bion  alarm.] 

*'  With  us  it  continues  its  ravages  among  the  intemper- 
ate, and  in  some,  but  comparatively  few  instances,  among 
those  who  are  temperate.  It  is  the  remark  of  every  physi- 
cian with  whom  I  have  conversed,  that  in  the  course  of  their 
practice,  they  could,  with  few  exceptions,  trace  every  severe 
case  of  cholera  to  intemperance  in  drinking,  improper  food, 
or  some  other  manifestly  exciting  cause.  The  Rev.  Mr.  H.'s 
case  was  lamentable.  He  and  his  wife  and  child.  Dr.  A. 
who  attended  them,  and  a  colored  nurse,  all  fell  victims  to 
this  terrible  disease.  In  Broad-street,  Mrs.  T.,  and  seven  of 
her  family  besides,  were  cut  oiF  in  a  few  days.  It  is  be- 
lieved, that  in  both  these  sad  cases,  local  causes  of  a  noxious 
character  had  a  principal  share  in  their  production  and 
fatality. 

"  Yesterday  I  officiated  twice  m  St.  George's,  and,  with 
the  advice  of  my  vestry,  gave  notice  that  the  church  will 
be  closed  for  the  remainder  of  the  month.  Probably  two- 
thirds  or  three- fourths  of  the  congregation  are  absent  from 
the  city ;  and  'as  this  is  about  the  time  of  our  aimual  clean- 
ing, it  was  thought  best  to  close  for  that  purpose. 


HIS  MINISTRY.  411 

"  I  would  now  willingly  give  the  farpily  a  little  country 
air,  but  there  is  great  difficulty  in  knowing  where  to  go  with 
safety,  and  at  the  same  time  have  a  favorable  reception. 
We  must  inquire  and  determine,  in  the  course  of  a  few  days, 
whether  to  remain  or  go.  I  must  be  principally  at  my  post. 
With  our  best  regards  to  all  our  dear  friencj^,  I  remain, 
"  Your  affectionate  father, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

After  the  removal  of  the  scourge  of  pestilence.  Dr.  Mil- 
nor  was  left  to  spend  a  long  lonely  season  at  home,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  illness  of  his  younger  daughter  Eleanor.  She 
had  become  the  subject  of  a  nervous  debility,  which  com- 
pelled her  to  travel ;  and  to  enable  her  to  do  this  with  com- 
fort and  a  hope  of  benefit,  Mrs.  Milnor  and  Henry  were 
obliged  to  accompany  her.  They  accordingly  took  a  voyage 
to  Charleston  and  Savannah,  with  the  prospect  of  remaining 
at  the  south  till  the  spring  of  1833.  In  the  meantime,  his 
elder  daughter  Anna  fell  sick  at  home,  and  was  for  several 
weeks  confined  to  her  room  by  an  attack  which  threatened 
a  result  in  pulmonary  disease.  This  season,  however,  of 
domestic  gloom  at  length  passed  away,  and  the  whole  fam- 
ily were  again  reunited  in  customary  happiness,  though  not 
at  once  in  their  customary  health. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  which  his  son  re- 
ceived soon  after  his  settlement  in  Philadelphia,  touches  a 
subject  not  yet  introduced  into  these  pages,  but  without  a 
notice  of  which  our  view  of  Dr.  Milnor's  inner  life  would  be 
incomplete.  He  had  as  much  happiness  as  any  father  in 
the  respect  and  affection  of  his  children  ;  but,  for  long  years, 
he  had  not  the  comfort  of  knowing  that  any  of  them  were 
partakers  of  his  own  "good  hope  through  grace."  Many 
of  his  letters  evince  how  deep  were  his  fatherly  sdlicitudes 
for  their  salvation,  and  how  profound  his  Christian  sorrows 
over  the  protracted  delay  to  which  the  realization  of  his 
hopes  in  their  behalf  was  subjected.  Of  this  the  extract 
alluded  to  furnishes  an  affecting  illustration. 


418  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

"New  York,  April  15,  1833. 

"  Dear  Henry — I  received  your  letter,  written  imme- 
diately on  your  arrival  in  Philadelphia,  as  did  your  mother 
the  one  written  to  her,  I  know  not  that  any  thing  mate- 
rial has  occurred,  since  you  left  us,  within  the  circle  of  our 
acquaintance.  Our  Easter  election  for  vestrymen  was  peace- 
ful and  satisfactory  ;  and  every  thing  is  as  I  could  wish  it  in 
my  congregation,  except  that  my  desires  are  not  fully  grati- 
fied in  the  increase  of  the  number  of  those  who  are  willing 
to  devote  themselves  to  a  religious  life.  No  one  circum- 
stance preys  more  upon  my  spirits,  and  more  imbitters  my 
private  meditations,  than  that  neither  of  my  dear  children 
has  done  so.  The  unhappiness  is  twofold :  first,  on  their 
account,  for  I  know  that  without  religion  they  cannot  be 
truly  happy  in  this  life,  and  must  be  miserable  in  eternity  ; 
and  second,  because  I  fear  I  have  not  done  my  duty  in  their 
education,  and  that,  should  they  be-  lost,  their  guilt  and  con- 
demnation will  lie  at  my  door.  Reflections  on  these  sub- 
jects sometimes  agonize  my  heart,  and  almost  unfit  me  for 
my  necessary  duties.  One  thing,  my  dear  son,  is  certain  ;  if 
you  have  really  listened  to  my  preaching  with  the  attention 
which  your  appearance  from  Sunday  to  Sunday  has  seemed 
to  indicate,  you  must  be  theoretically  acquainted  with  all 
the  great  truths  of  the  gospel,  and  especially  with  the  means 
by  which  a  sinner  must  be  saved  fi'om  eternal  ruin.  Why 
have  not  those  means  produced  the  desired  eflect  ? 

"  You  are  the  subject  of  my  continual  prayers ;  and  I 
will  hope  that  you  will  not  be  content  with  avoiding  evil 
associations,  but  will '  seek  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  tbund, 
and  call  upon  him  while  he  is  near.'  It  would  give  me 
more  pleasure  than  your  accession  to  a  large  estate,  to  know 
that  you  had  the  same  interests,  objects,  and  attachments, 
which  I  trust  will  engross  my  heart  till  I  am  called  to  my 
account.  I  was  rejoiced  to  hear  of  the  manner  in  which 
you  spent  your  first  Sunday  in  Philadelphia,  and  sincerely 
hope  that  you  will  uniformly  observe  the  Sabbath-day  ;  and 


HIS  ^imSTRY.  413 

may  the  Lord,  who  has  not  made  the  ministry  of  a  parent 
eiiectual  to  your  conversion,  give  that  honor  to  some  more 
devoted  mhiister  of  Christ.  Accept  the  assurance  of  an  un- 
ceasing parental  anxiety  for  you,  on  the  part  of  your  dear 
mother,  and  of 

"  Your  affectionate  father, 

"JAMES  MILNOP.." 

The  following  was  written  soon  after  his  return  from  an 
eastern  journey. 


To   the   Rev. 


"New  York,  July  1,  1833. 

**  My  dear  Friend — I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you, 
that  we  reached  home  in  safety  on  Saturday  evening,  and 
with  our  dear  daughter's  health  evidently  much  improved ; 
and  that  I  was  able  to  preach  to  my  beloved  people  on  the 
following  day  in  the  forenoon  ;  while,  in  the  afternoon,  they 
were  gratified  with  a  discourse  from  our  friend  the  Bishop 
of  Ohio,  the  last  to  be  expected  from  him  before  his  depart- 
ure for  his  labors  in  the  West."  [After  his  consecration, 
the  previous  autumn.  Bishop  Mcllvaine  had  spent  several 
months  in  a  finally  successful  attempt  to  raise,  in  various 
cities  at  the  East,  the  sum  of  $30,000,  to  relieve  the  embar- 
rassments of  Kcnyon  college,  before  entering  on  the  duties 
of  its  presidency.!  "  He  collected  enough,  before  he  left 
Philadelphia,  to  make  his  subscriptions  amount  to  $28,000. 
Could  he  have  gone  to  Baltimore,  1  have  no  doubt  he  would 
have  completed  his  desired  sum. 

"All  accounts  concur  in  giving  a  very  favorable  repre- 
sentation of  the  seminary  proceedings  last  week.  The  dis- 
sertations of  the  graduates,  it  is  said,  were  excellent  in  spirit 
and  in  style.  Indeed,  my  acquaintance  with  most  of  them, 
and  with  many  others  of  the  students,  inspires  me  with  a 
very  pleasing  hope  of  an  increasing  tendency,  in  that  impor- 
tant institution  of  our  church,  towards  moderate  church 
views,  and  evangelical  doctrines. 


414  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

•'  You  will  see,  by  the  Recorder  of  last  week,  the  de 
lightful  promise  of  the  collegiate  institution  at  Bristol,  Penn- 
sylvania :  I  verily  believe  no  attempt  in  the  church,  by 
those  of  our  views,  has  ever  been  made,  from  which  more 
good  will  result,  provided  the  energies  "of  the  pious  are 
promptly  put  forth  in  its  establishment  and  support.  Let 
us  pray  earnestly  for  our  dear  brother  C.  and  liis  associates, 
and  for  the  complete  success  of  this  hallowed  work. 
"  Your  affectionate  friend  and  brother, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

This  letter,  placed  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events, 
shows  that  Dr.  Milnor  was  disappointed  in  two  of  his  most 
pleasing  anticipations  :  his  hope,  that  the  tendency  of  our 
General  Seminaiy  would  be  increasingly  towards  moderate 
church  views,  and  evangelical  doctrines  ;  and  his  hope,  that 
Bristol  college  would  live  to  fulfil  its  first  "  delightful  prom- 
ise" of  good  to  the  cause  of  scriptural  truth  and  godliness. 
The  star  of  Bristol  college  has  long  since  fallen  from  our 
ecclesiastical  firmament,  into  the  darkness  of  utter  extinc- 
tion ;  while  that  of  our  G  eneral  Seminary  is  suffering  an 
occultation,  which  threatens  to  be  gloomier  than  the  dark- 
ness even  of  extinction  itself.  There  is  blessed  light  within 
it  yet ;  but  baleful  shadows  have  fallen  between  it  and  our 
eyes,  portending  "  trouble  and  darkness,"  and  the  "  dimness 
of  anguish,"  to  those  who  look  for  the  breaking  forth  of  the 
true  brightness. 

In  a  letter  to  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  dated  January  22, 1834, 
soon  after  the  bishop's  full  entrance  on  his  official  duties, 
having  congratulated  him  on  the  encouraging  prospects  which 
had  greeted  his  settlement  in  Ohio,  and  spoken  of  disturb- 
ances in  the  New  York  University — a  new  institution,  in 
founding  and  organizing  which,  Dr.  Milnor  had  taken  a 
prominent  part — he  inserts  the  following  paragraph,  touch- 
ing another  of  the  topics  of  the  day.  It  shows  the  stead- 
fastness of  the  grasp  by  which  he  held  his  own  original 
religious  convictions  and  principles 


HIS  MINISTRY.  ,  415 

''Your  brother  of ,  (wliom  I  do^jiot  cease  sincerely 

to  love, )  under  the  auspices  of  a  confessedly  powerful  advo- 
cate of  the  claims  of  the  church,  is,  I  think,  fast  ascending 
tow^ards  the  topmost  step  of  the  Episcopal  ladder.  I  am 
sorry  for  it,  on  the  score  both  of  propriety  and  of  expediency. 
"What  does  that  beloved  brother  mean,  in  the  address  to  his 
Convention,  where,  in  reference  to  Christians  of  other  denom- 
inations, he  speaks  of  '  ivithdraiving  ourselves,  in  a  great 
measure,  from  their  plans  and  movements  for  doing  good  V 
If  he  refer  to  ultra  new-hght  measures  in  revivals,  etc.,  it  is 
well.  But  Ave  have  never  been  associated  with,  and  there- 
fore cannot  'withdraw  from,'  these  things.  If  he  mean 
Bible  and  Tract  operations,  his  course  will  be  disapproved 
by  all  his  old  friends ;  and  will,  I  am  persuaded,-  greatly 
impede  the  progress  and  prosperity  of  the  church  in  his 
diocese." 

As  an  index  to  some  of  the  movements  of  the  day,  the 
following  may  be  interesting  : 

To  the   Et.    Rev.   C.  P.  Mcllvaine. 

"New  York,  April  21,  1834. 

"  Rt.  Hev.  and  dear  Sir — I  cannot  let  my  young  friend, 
Mr.  W.  H.  Moore,  set  out  on  his  journey  to  Gambler  with- 
out a  short  line,  as  well  to  commend  him  to  your  kind  re- 
gards as  to  assure  you  of  the  affectionate  interest  which  I 
constantly  feel  in  all  that  concerns  your  personal  happiness, 
and  the  interesting  charge  which  divine  Providence  has 
thrown  upon  you.  You  have  many  prayers  ofiered  for  you 
in  this  eastern  region ;  and  I  trust  our  gracious  Lord  is  ren- 
dering answers  in  the  acceptance  and  prosperity  with  which 
he  is  rewarding  your  self-denying  and  assiduous  exertions. 
All  the  accounts  are  favorable  to  the  hope,  that  the  great 
loss  which  we  have  sustained  in  your  separation  from  us, 
will  prove,  through  the  divine  blessing,  an  immense  gain  to 
Ohio  and  the  neighboring  states. 

"  A  few  days  since,  I  received  a  very  kind  letter  from  Dr. 


416  MEilOIPw   OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

Gregory,  who  speaks  of  you  in  the  most  affectionate  terms, 
and  of  the  gratification  which  it  afixjrded  him  to  have  been 
instrumental  in  the  pubhcation  of  an  EngHsh  edition  of  your 
Lectures  on  the  Evidences — a  work  which,  he  says,  '  is 
highly  esteemed  by  Lord  Bexley,  the  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
Dr.  Dealtry,  and  other  competent  judges,  and  is  getting  into 
very  good  circulation  in  England.'  He  speaks  also  in  terms 
of  eulogy  of  your  '  faithfully  simple  and  touching  farewell 
sermon,'  which  he  would  have  had  printed  for  private  cir- 
culation, had  he  not  lost  the  copy  which  you  sent  him. 

"  You  have  doubtless  heard  that  the  Bristol  institution 
has  been  chartered  as  a  college,  and  has  expectations  of  a 
larger  accession  of  students  than  it  can  accommodate.     But 

you  will  probably  be  surprised  to  hear  that  our  brother 

endeavored  to  defeat  the  application  for  a  charter,  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  not  connected  with  the  church,  and  did 
not  place  the  bishop  at  the  head  of  its  direction.  A  few 
months  ago  he  deprecated  such  a  measure.  The  views  of 
our  good  brother  are,  to  all  appearance,  changing. 

**  I  am  happy  to  say,  that  in  our  theological  seminary 
here,  there  is  an  increasing  spirit  of  evangelical  piety  among 
the  students,  and  much  more  liberality  of  conduct  than  for- 
merly, on  the  part  of  its  directors,  towards  those  who  profess 
themselves  of  the  moderate  school. 

'*  The  Lord  have  you  all  in  his  holy  keeping,  m  time  and 
in  eternity.     I  remain,  truly, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

The  letters  and  extracts  thus  given,  bring  us  to  a  period 
in  the  life  of  Dr.  Milnor,  at  which  he  was  called  to  under- 
take another  important  mission.  The  operations  of  our  Do- 
mestic and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  among  the  Indians 
at  their  Green  Bay  station,  had  become  seriously  embar- 
rassed, and  it  was  necessary  either  to  reduce  the  mission, 
or  to  place  it  on  a  more  secure  basis.  With  a  view  to  the 
decision  of  this  alternative,  it  was  at  length  resolved,  at  a 


HIS  MINISTRY.  417 

meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  in  May,  1834,  "  to  appoint 
a  suitable  person  to  visit  the  missionary  station  at  Green 
Bay,  as  agent,  to  examine  and  report  on  the  state  of  its 
affairs."  The  appointment  fell  upon  Dr.  Milnor,  and  though 
the  resolution  of  the  board  contemplated  but  a  single  agent, 
yet,  apparently  at  his  suggestion,  two  other  gentlemen,  Drs. 
Hawks  and  Kemper,  were  nominated  as  his  associates.  The 
former  was  prevented  by  illness  in  liis  family  from  accepting 
the  nomination,  but  the  latter  consented  to  engage  with 
Dr.  Milnor  in  the  proposed  visit.  Accordingly,  after  much 
time,  in  the  month  of  June,  spent  in  making  the  necessary 
arrangements  and  provisions,  and  in  furnishing  the  requisite 
instructions  and  documents  for  their  guidance,  the  two  agents 
left  New  York  on  Thursday,  July  3,  in  time  to  take  the 
steamer  of  the  10th  from  Buffalo. 

The  documents  with  which  they  were  furnished  were 
numerous  and  important,  involving  the  internal  affairs  of 
the  mission,  and  its  external  relations  to  the  government  of 
the  United  States ;  and  the  instructions  with  which  they 
were  supplied  clothed  them  with  all  needful  powers. 

The  two  agents  reached  Green  Bay  at  the  time  proposed, 
and  Dr.  Milnor  at  once  forwarded  to  his  wife  the  followmg 
letter. 

"Mission-House,  Green  Bay,  Michigan,  > 
July  17,  1834.  \ 

"  My  dear  Ellen — I  have  great  pleasure  in  now  writ- 
ing to  you  from  the  place  of  our  destination,  which  Dr. 
Kemper  and  I  reached  last  evening  in  perfect  health.  Con- 
sidering that  we  spent  our  first  Sabbath  at  Auburn,  and  a 
whole  day  in  visiting  the  falls  ;  and  that  we  were  detained 
a  day  at  Detroit,  while  the  steamer  was  taking  in  wood,  and 
another  at  Mackinaw  for  the  same  purpose,  besides  stoppages 
of  a  few  hours  each  at  two  other  places,  it  is  considered  by 
our  friends  here  that  we  have  made  an  uncommonly  rapid 
journey ;  and  when  we  compare  it  with  the  month  or  six 
weeks,  or  even  two  months,  during  which  some,  in  former 

18=^ 


418  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

times,  have  been  employed  in  its  accomplishment,  we  have 
great  cause  of  thankfulness  to  God,  both  for  the  expedition 
and  the  pleasure  with  which  we  have  been  permitted  to 
complete  thus  far  our  arduous  undertaking.  Of  our  return 
we  cannot  anticipate  so  favorably.  .  "We  are  likely  to  be  dis- 
appointed in  obtaining  a  passage  back  through  the  lakes  by 
steamers,  none  being  expected  here  until  long  after  the  time 
when  we  shall  have  fulfilled  the  purpose  of  our  visit,  and  be 
desirous  of  returning.  Hopes  are  held  out  that  our  passage 
in  a  good  schooner  may  be  obtained ;  but  it  is  possible  that 
even  in  this  we  may  be  disappointed.  Our  steamer,  '  the 
Michigan,'  leaves  this  afternoon ;  and  when  she  is  gone,  the 
port  of  Navarino  will  not  contain  a  single  vessel  larger  than 
a  barge  or  a  canoe. 

"  We  were  pleased  to  find  the  missionary  family  and  their 
interesting  pupils  all  in  good  health,  and  the  mission-house 
spacious  and  convenient,  and  very  pleasantly  located  on  the 
Fox  river.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Cadle,  though  no  longer  connect- 
ed with  the  mission,  having  removed  to  the  settlement  of  the 
Oneida  Indians  about  nine  miles  off)  was  yet  fortunately  here, 
and  will  remain  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  us  in  our  inqui- 
ries, which  will  be  industriously  prosecuted,  so  that  we  may 
be  ready -for  the  first  opportunity  of  turning  our  faces  east- 
ward. 

"  I  have  many  things  to  say,  but  my  time  is  so  occupied 
this  morning,  that  I  can  only  conclude  with  the  customary 
salutations  to  all  the  family,  and  assure  you  that  I  remain, 
unalterably, 

"  Your  faithful  husband, 

♦'JAMES  MILNOR." 

The  following  is  a  summary  view  of  the  objects  and 
results  of  the  agency. 

In  their  report  to  the  Executive  Committee,  which  is  a 
document  of  considerable  length  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Milnor, 
the  agents  state,  that  their  "  residence  at  the  mission-house 
was  continued  from  the  evening  of  their  arrival  until  the 


HIS  MINISTllY.  419 

4th  of  August,"  full  eighteen  days.  Of  these,  ''  ten  days  of 
assiduous  application  were  devoted  to  their  inquiries  and 
observations.  Their  subsequent  detention,  for  want  of  any 
means  of  return,  supplied  them  with  a  further  opportunity 
of  maturing  their  reflections,  and  preparing  their  statement 
for  the  perusal  of  the  committee."  This  statement,  drawn 
up  in  a  minute  and  business-like  manner,  embraced  the  fol- 
lowing general  heads:  "Mission  buildings  and  farm;  mis- 
sion family ;  supplies ;  mission  schools ;  reduction  of  schools ; 
past  beneiits  of  the  mission;  Oneidas;  the  Menominees ;  min- 
isterial labors  of  the  agents  ;  conclusion."  For  the  particu- 
lars of  this  report,  reference  may  be  had  to  the  October  and 
November  numbers  of  "the  Missionary  Record,"  for  the  year 
1834.  The  account  of  their  visit  to  the  Oneidas  is  peculiarly 
interesting ;  and  their  labors  as  preachers  during  their  ab- 
sence, were  of  frequent  occurrence.  The  "  conclusion  "  of 
their  report,  and  the  "instructions"  given  immediately  after- 
wards to  the  new  superintendent  by  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee, will  sufficiently  indicate  the  results  of  their  mission. 
The  agents  say, 

"  We  cannot  conclude  without  repeating  our  conviction, 
that  under  the  auspices  of  an  enlightened,  economical,  and 
pious  administration,  this  mission  may  be  continued  with 
great  literary  and  religious  benefit  to  its  immediate  benefi- 
ciaries ;  with  a  happy  influence  upon  society  at  Green  Bay, 
and  with  credit  and  advantage  to  the  church. 

"  With  the  proposed  reasonable  limitation  of  its  numbers, 
and  suitable  guards  against  improvident  expenditure,  we 
think  that  there  are  abundant  motives  for  persevering  in  this 
work  of  Christian  beneficence  ;  and  that  no  thought  should 
be  entertained  of  its  present  abandonment. 

"  On  the  contrary,  with  the  rising  missionary  spirit  of 
our  church,  we  would  fain  anticipate  a  new  impulse  in  favor 
of  its  maintenance  and  improvement.  And  if,  at  some  future 
period,  in  the  changing  circumstances  of  our  Indian  popula- 
tion, its  relinquishment  should  be  judged  expedient,  wer  have 


420.  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

no  doubt  the  reasons  for  such  a  measure  would  then  com- 
mend themselves  to  all ;  while  its  premature  adoption  would 
find  a  sufficient  sanction,  neither  in  the  past  history,  nor  in 
the  present  situation,  nor  yet  in  the  future  prospects  of  the 
mission.  A  certain  good,  of  no  inconsiderable  extent,  would 
be  surrendered,  before  substitutes  of  unquestioned  value  were 
prepared  to  take  its  place,  and  a  character  of  uncalled-for 
fickleness  be  stamped  upon  our  operations. 

*'  The  weight  of  these  considerations  is  increased  by  the 
high  estimation  in  which  our  mission  is  held  by  the  respect- 
able and  good  in  the  West.  It  has  the  regard,  we  believe, 
of  the  whole  Protestant  population  there,  who  are  acquainted 
with  its  character  and  doings,  and  whose  moral  dispositions 
qualify  them  to  estimate  aright  its  value. 

"  We  have  done,  and  will  still  seek  to  do  the  Indians 
good.  Our  mission  will  continue  to  be  conducted  with  '  the 
meekness  of  wisdom,'  and  so  long  as  the  less  prejudiced  shall 
continue  their  children  under  its  care,  they  will  be  prepared 
by  wholesome  instruction  to  fulfil  with  propriety  their  duties 
to  God  and  man ;  and  some  of  them,  we  hope,  be  invested, 
through  faith  in  the  Redeemer  of  mankind,  with  the  most 
elevated  expectations  of  his  true  disciples. 

"  JAMES  MILNOR." 
"JACKSON  KEMPER." 

The  instructions  given  by  the  Executive  Committee  to 
the  new  superintendent,  so  far  as  they  grew  out  of  the 
report  of  the  agents,  were  the  following  : 

"1.  To  reduce  the  number  of  boarding  pupils  to  fifty, 
and  to  give  preference  to  full- blood  Indian  children,  espe- 
cially Menominees. 

"2.  To  make  arrangements  for  having  the  pupils  in- 
structed in  the  difierent  trades  suggested  in  the  report  of 
the  Rev.  Drs.  Milnor  and  Kemper. 

"3.  Whenever  practicable,  to  have  the  candidates  for 
admission  into  the  school  bound  for  as  long  a  term  as  the 


HIS  MINISTRY.  421 

law  will  allow  ;  and  whenever  it  is  unavoidably  lessened. 
to  abridge  it  as  little  as  possible. 

"4.  To  receive  no  children  into  the  establishment  over 
twelve,  nor  under  five  years  of  age. 

"5.  To  take  such  measures  as  are  calculated  to  give  a 
decidedly  religious  character  to  the  duties  of  the  schools,  by 
the  formation  of  Bible  and  catechetical  classes,  and  by  hav- 
ing, on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  the  usual  exercises  of  Sun- 
day-schools. 

*'  6.  To  have  cleared  and  prepared  annually,  for  tillage 
or  pasture,  a  portion  of  the  land  belonging  to  the  society  ; 
to  increase,  from  time  to  time,  the  number  of  milch-cows, 
and  to  purchase  a  pair  of  horses,  a  wagon,  and  a  sled  for  the 
use  of  the  farm,  and  a  low-priced  vehicle  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  mission  family." 

The  results,  then,  of  the  agency  to  Green  Bay  were  the 
reduction  of  the  mission  to  the  measure  of  the  society's  means 
for  its  support,  and  the  maturing  of  a  judicious  plan  for  its 
future  more  eliective  management.  In  reaching  these  results, 
however,  extensive  mvestigations  were  necessary,  involving 
intercourse  with  agents  and  officers  of  the  United  States 
government ;  interviews,  through  interpreters,  with  Indian 
tribes ;  and  careful  examinations  of  the  domestic  economy 
of  the  mission  family,  of  the  schools,  and  of  their  books  and 
system  of  instruction — work  for  which  few  men  in  our  church 
could  be  found  more  happily  qualified  than  Dr.  Milnor  and 
his  associate. 

After  their  return  and  report,  and  under  the  new  and 
somewhat  reduced  system  of  operations  which  they  recom- 
mended, confidence  in  the  mission  revived,  and  its  operations 
were  successfully  mamtained  until  changes  in  the  Indian 
population  of  its  neighborhood  rendered  its  final  abandon- 
ment a  measure  of  no  longer  doubtful  expediency. 

Upon  their  return,  the  agents  proceeded  together,  by  the 
lakes,  until  they  reached  Huron,  upon  lake  Erie,  in  Ohio. 
At  tliis  point  they  separated,  Dr.  Kemper  continuing  by  the 


422  MEilOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

lake  to  Buffalo  and  New  York ;  while  Dr.  Milnor  passed 
down  through  Ohio,  to  Kenyon  college  at  Gambier,  and 
thence  home  by  the  way  of  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia. 

We  return  now  to  letters  and  extracts  from  Dr.  Milnor's 
correspondence. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1835,  Dr.  Milnor  attended  the 
annual  convention  of  our  church  in  Massachusetts,  which 
met  at  Pittsfield.  His  object  in  attending  was,  informally, 
to  represent  the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  at 
a  missionary  meeting  for  which  arrangements  had  been  made 
in  connection  with  the  occasion.  With  this  reference,  the 
following  letter  explains  itself 

To   the   Rev.  John   S.  Stone. 

"New  York,  June  24,  1830. 

"  My  dear  Brother — On  the  importunate  request  of 
several  of  the  brethren  at  Pittsfield,  I  agreed  to  endeavor,  by 
the  help  of  memory  and  the  little  memorandum  from  which 
I  spoke  at  the  missionary  meetmg,  to  recall  and  note  for 
publication  in  *  the  Witness '  the  substance  of  what  I  de- 
livered. ^ 

"  I  reached  home  on  Monday  evening,  and  at  eight 
o'clock  yesterday  morning  was  obliged  to  attend  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  trustees  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary, 
the  business  of  which  vsdll  occupy  us  until  the  Commence- 
ment on  Friday  next.  I  mention  this  as  my  apology  for 
sending  you  such  a  scrawl,  and  for  asking  of  you  the  favor 
of  examining  and  correcting  whatever  you  may  see  to  be 
amiss,  before  you  send  it  to  the  printer.  I  leave  it  to  your- 
self to  call  it  a  speech,  or  an  address,  or  the  substance  of 
either,  or  what  you  please,  and  to  introduce  it  in  such  a  way 
as  you  may  think  proper.  I  hope  you  have  reduced  your 
speech  to  writing,  and  will  also  publish  it. 

"  I  am  suddenly  called  to  a  funeral,  and  remain,  in  haste, 
"  Yours,  most  afiectionately, 

"JAMES  MILNOR," 


His  MINISTRY.  423 

The  following  exhibits  the  interest  which,  until  it  be- 
came inextricably  involved  by  the  management  of  others, 
Dr.  Milnor  continued  to  feel  in  the  concerns  of  Bristol 
college. 

To  the   Rev.  J.  P.  K.  Henshaw.  D.  D. 

"New  York,  Aug.  5,  1835. 

*'  E,EV.  AND  DEAR  Brother — You  havc,  no  doubt,  before 
this,  received  official  information  of  your  appointment  as  an 
agent  for  Bristol  college.  The  president  was  led  to  believe 
you  might  be  prevailed  on  to  undertake  a  six  months'  en- 
gagement in  this  interesting  service,  and  that  it  would  be 
practicable  for  you  to  make  arrangements  with  your  congre- 
gation lor  an  entire  devotion  of  your  attention  to  it  for  that 
period.  I  sincerely  hope  this  may  be  the  case,  as  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  college  are  now  peculiarly  trying ;  the 
press  for  admission  being  very  great,  and  our  accommoda- 
tions quite  inadequate  even  to  the  comfortable  living  of  the 
present  students,  and  the  board  of  trustees  entirely  without 
the  means  of  their  extension ;  while  the  debt  incurred  in 
building  the  new  hall,  is,  to  a  considerable  extent,  unpaid. 
If  the  institution  should  continue  long  in  its  present  condi- 
tion, its  friends  who  are  disappointed  in  obtaining  admission 
for  their  children  will  be  discouraged,  and  much  patronage 
be  lost.  It  would  be  a  subject  of  great  regret,  if  an  enter- 
prise so  popular  should  either  fail  or  falter  in  its  course,  for 
want  of  those  timely  exertions  which  might  place  it  on  a 
footing  of  permanency  and  respectability  of  the  highest  order. 
It  wants  a  man  just  like  yourself  to  go  forth  as  its  advocate, 
and  gather  for  it  present  means,  and  the  assurance  of  con- 
tinued aid,  until  it  is  placed  on  the  basis  of  indejDendence 
enjoyed  by  other  literary  institutions  of  our  country. 

"  Allow  me,  as  a  friend  of  the  college,  to  hope  you  will 
accept  the  .appointment ;  and,  as  your  personal  friend,  to 
wish  you  the  honor  of  being,  under  Providence,  the  in- 
strument  of  insuring  the  stability  and  success  of  such  a 


424  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

promising  means  of  usefulness  to  the  church  and   to  the 
country. 

"  Yours,  very  faithfully  and  truly, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

The  next  shows  where  he  was,  and  intimates  in  what 
he  was  employed  during  the  remainder  of  the  month,  and 
for  a  part  of  September. 

To  Mrs.  Milnor. 
"Philadelphia,  Tuesday,  Sept.  1,  lS3b. 

"My  dear  Ellen — I  was  much  disappointed  on  Satur- 
day by  Mr.  Cairns'  omission  to  call,  as  he  promised  he  would 
on  his  way  to  the  steamer,  for  a  letter  which  I  had  written 
to  explain  to  you  the  necessity  under  which  I  was  unexpect- 
edly laid,  of  remaining  here  until  the  close  of  the  Convention. 
Had  I  not  expected  to  see  Mr.  Cairns,  1  should  have  gone 
down  to  Dr.  Klapp's  to  give  Henry  the  letter,  and  explain 
to  him  personally  the  reason  of  my  not  returning  on  Satur- 
day. I  did  not  write  yesterday,  because  I  was  fully  per- 
suaded that  the  Convention  would  have  closed  its  session 
last  evening.  That  was  not  the  case.  If  it  had  been,  I 
should  this  morning  have  been  on  my  way  home.  It  is  now 
uncertain  whether  we  shall  get  through  to-day.  If  we  do,  I 
shall  certainly.  Providence  permitting,  be  at  home  to-morrow 
evening ;  but  you  must  not  be  disappointed  if  I  should  be 
delayed  yet  one  day  longer. 

"  It  will  give  you  pleasure  to  be  informed,  that  all  ia 
harmony  and  peace.  Never  has  there  been  a  meeting  of 
the  great  council  of  our  church,  at  which  so  much  has  been 
done,  and  so  well  and  satisfactorily  done ;  and  there  is  every 
prospect  that  this  state  of  things  will  continue  to  the  end. 
We  have  had  many  interesting  public  meetings  hi  the  even- 
hig  ;  one  last  night  at  St.  Stephen's,  of  pecuhar  interest. — 
Love  to  every  member  of  the  family. 

"  Afiectionately  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 


HIS  MINISTEY.  425 

The  references  In  this  letter  are  to  the^  well-known  Gen- 
eral Convention  of  our  church  in  1835,  and  the  simultaneous 
triennial  meeting  of  the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  at  which  the  new  constitution  of  the  latter  was 
adopted — proclaiming  for  our  Zion  the  truth,  that  in  her 
missionary  operations,  "  the  field  is  the  woFwLD  ;"  and 
placing  the  two  departments  of  this  field,  the  domestic  and 
the  foreign,  under  the  supervision  of  two  distinct  executive 
committees,  with  each  its  own  secretary  and  general  agent. 
The  history  of  this  important  change,  and  of  its  results  in 
our  missionary  operations,  it  is  not  necessary  in  this  place  to 
write.  That  history  lies  on  our  public  records,  and  lives  in 
our  public  doings.  The  first  meeting  of  "  The  Board  of 
Missions,"  the  new  body  "intrusted  with  the  supervision  of 
the  general  missionary  operations  of  the  church,"  was  held 
in  Philadelphia,  Sept.  1,  1835,  when  the  two  executive  com- 
mittees were  elected.  The  second  meeting  of  the  board  was 
held  in  the  same  city  on  the  23d  of  the  same  month,  when 
the  two  secretaries  and  general  agents  of  those  committees 
were  elected.  This  election  fell  upon  the  Rev.  Mr,  Dorr,  for 
the  domestic,  and  upon  Dr.  Milnor,  for  the  foreign  committee. 
Both  committees  were  ultimately  located  in  New  York. 

The  question  now  presented  itself  for  Dr.  Milnor's  con- 
sideration,  whether  he  was  in  duty  bound  to  accept  the  im- 
portant office  to  which  he  had  been  thus  called.  That  it 
would,  at  first,  be  a  laborious  office,  there  could  be  no  doubt. 
The  whole  internal  economy  of  our  general  missionary  society 
must  necessarily  undergo  essential  modification.  Not  only 
were  new  missions  to  be  projected,  but  also  a  new  system 
of  management  to  be  devised  and  matured.  Every  thing 
was  to  start  upon  a  plan  so  new  in  the  office  of  each  secre- 
tary, as  to  require  nothing  less  than  the  undivided  attention 
of  each  for  at  least  the  first  year  of  operation.  Was  it,  then, 
Dr.  Milnor's  duty  to  undertake  his  part  of  the  task  ?  The 
thought  of  resigning  his  rectorship,  and  retiring  from  his 
parish,  was  not  for  a  moment  to  be  entertained.     To  dear 


426  MilMOIR  OF   DR.   MILNOR. 

St.  George's  he  felt  himself  wedded  for  hfe.  And  yet  there 
was  a  manifest  suitableness  in  the  choice  which  had  called 
him  to  the  head  of  the  foreign  department.  There  was  not 
a  clerical  man  in  our  church,  north,  south,  east,  or  west,  so 
well  qualified  for  the  post  as  himself;  whether  by  general 
and  accurate  busmess  habits  and  experience,  or  by  particular 
familiarity  with  the  foreign  missionaiy  work.  The  whole 
previous  course  of  his  life  had  been  fitting  him,  though  with- 
out apparent  design,  yet  with  thorough  effect,  for  this  veiy 
office.  The  pressure  of  the  question  upon  liis  mind  at  length 
determined  him  to  throw  the  whole  upon  the  responsibility 
of  his  vestry,  and  to  abide  their  decision  of  the  case.  He 
had  repeatedly  before  called  upon  them  for  sacrifices  of  paro- 
chial to  public  good,  and  doubted  not,  that  if  duty  seemed  to 
them  to  point  distinctly  in  the  new  direction,  they  would  be 
found  capable  of  their  customary  magnanimity,  and  without 
hesitation  give  their  advice  in  accordance  with  right,  though 
against  the  leanings  of  inclination.  Accordingly,  a  meeting 
of  his  vestry  was  called,  and  the  case  submitted  to  their 
consideration.  It  should  be  stated,  that  the  annual  salary 
of  each  of  the  two  secretaries  had  been  fixed  by  the  board  at 
$2,300.  The  statement  which  he  laid  before  his  vestry  in- 
cluded the  following  particulars. 

"  That  it  should  be  proposed  to  the  foreign  committee  to 
receive  Dr.  Milnor's  acceptance  of  the  office,  with  an  under- 
standing that  he  should  be  at  liberty  to  relinquish  it  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions  :  that  in  the  mean- 
time he  should  decline  all  personal  emolument  from  the 
office ;  but  that,  to  enable  him  to  detach  himself  as  much 
as  his  agency  should  require  from  the  duties  of  the  parish, 
,  a  parochial  assistant  should  be  appointed  for  one  year,  with 
an  adequate  salary,  say  $1,000 ;  this  sum  to  be  paid  out  of 
the  salary  aiipropriated  by  the  Board  of  Missions  to  the  agent 
of  the  i'orcigii  committee,  the  residue  of  the  stipend  of  the 
agent  to  be  at  the  disposal  of  that  committee. 

"  At  the  same  time  he  apprized  the  vestry,  that  in  the 


HIS  MINISTRY.  427 

event  of  their  acceding  to  this  arrangemeftt,  the  duties  of  his 
agency  might  be  expected  to  be  of  a  very  absorbing  nature. 
The  office  for  the  transaction  of  business  must  be  arranged 
and  put  in  order ;  the  minutes  and  papers  of  the  late  commit- 
tee be  examined ;  an  extensive  correspondence  be  forthwith 
entered  upon  ;  plans  be  projected  for  widening  the  sphere  of 
missionary  operations,  and  means  be  proposed  for  an  -increase 
of  pecuniary  resources,  proportioned  to  the  noble  views  of  the 
church  in  reference  to  the  great  work  of  which  she  had  now 
assumed  the  charge.  Added  to  these  duties,  frequent  ab- 
sences from  the  city  on  missionary  business  would  be  indis- 
pensable ;  and  when  at  home,  personal  attendance  at  the 
missionary  rooms  would  be  a  daily  duty. 

"  Under  these  circumstances,  he  desired  them  seriously 
to  consider  whether,  as  the  representatives  of  the  congrega- 
tion, they  could  make  such  a  sacrifice  to  the  interests  of  the 
mission  cause ;  declaring,  that  if  they  should  be  adverse  to 
the  plan,  he  would  decline  the  appointment,  and  content 
himself  Avith  fulfilling  the  ordinary  duties  of  a  member  of 
the  committee.  But  if,  on  the  contrary,  they  should  assent 
to  his  engagement  in  the  duties  of  the  agency  in  the  way 
suggested,  though  he  felt  an  humble  sense  of  his  insufficiency 
for  the  work,  yet  he  would  enter  upon  it  in  reliance  upon 
the  help  of  God,  and  with  the  assistance  of  his  brethren ; 
calculating  upon  a  more  laborious  course  of  bodily  and  men- 
tal service  than  he  had  yet  known,  and  earnestly  hoping  that 
the  result  might  redound  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  exten- 
sion of  the  kingdom  of  the  Redeemer," 

The  action  of  his  vestry  on  these  generous  and  Christian 
proposals  was  affirmative  ;  they  consented  to,  and  advised 
the  acceptance  of  the  office ;  while  the  foreign  committee, 
on  their  part,  at  their  first  meeting,  October  12,  1835,  readily 
acceded  to  the  terms  on  which  his  acceptance  w^as  offered. 
The  parochial  assistant  appointed  by  his  vestry  was  the 
Kev.  James  W.  Cooke,  who  subsequently  became  one  of  our 
highly  esteemed  foreign  secretaries. 


428  MEMOIR  OF  DE.  MILNOR. 

The  expectations  raised  by  Dr.  Milnor's  acceptance  of  the 
ofEce  were  not  disappointed.  He  impressed  on  his  depart- 
ment his  own  thorough  habits  of  business,  and  imparted  to 
our  whole  missionary  development  a  before  uiiattained  sys- 
tem and  efficiency.  It  is  presumed  that  few  if  any  will 
deny,  that  in  its  practical  details  and  workmgs,  our  general 
missionary  organization,  especially  in  its  foreign  branch, 
owes  more  to  him  than  to  any  other  single  individual.  The 
year  which  he  spent  in  the  office,  proved  indeed  one  of  his 
most  laborious  ;  lor  it  must  be  remembered,  that  he  held  at 
the  same  time  his  post  of  great  toil  both  in  the  American 
Bible  and  in  the  American  Tract  Societies,  besides  vaiious 
other  places  of  resjDonsibility  and  care  in  connection  with  our 
own  church  and  with  the  cause  of  general  benevolence.  So 
severe,  in  fact,  were  his  labors  during  this  year,  and  so  pro- 
foundly interested,  as  well  as  engrossed,  did  he  become  in  the 
mhdonary  department,  that  some  of  his  immediate  friends, 
fearful  that  he  might  be  induced  to  continue  his  agency  be- 
yond the  year  for  which  he  engaged,  and  apprehensive  of 
dangerous  consequences  to  his  health  from  such  continuance, 
felt  constrained  to  expostulate  with  him,  and  to  insist  upon 
his  resignation  at  the  close  of  the  specified  term.  Accord- 
ingly, at  the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions, 
held  in  the  month  of  June,  1836,  his  resignation  was  ten- 
dered, and  by  the  following  action  of  the  board,  accepted. 

^'Resolved,  That  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor  be  requested  to 
continue  in  the  discharge  of  the  official  duties  of  Secretary 
and  General  Agent,  until  a  successor  be  appointed  and  ready 
to  enter  on  the  duties  of  his  appointment ;  provided,  that 
the  services  of  Dr.  Milnor  are  not  understood  to  be  required 
beyond  the  expiration  of  a  year  from  the  time  when  he  com- 
menced his  duties. 

"  Resolved,  That  in  accepting  the  resignation  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Milnor,  as  Secretary  and  General  Agent  of  the 
Committee  for  Foreign  Missions,  the  Board  deeply  regret  the 
necessity  which  dictates  that  measure ;  and  would,  by  this 


HIS  MINISTRY.  429 

resolution,  express  their  grateful  sense  of  the  eminent  ability, 
zeal,  industry,  and  success,  with  which,  under  divine  Provi- 
dence, he  has  been  permitted  to  labor  so  faithfully  in  this 
holy  cause." 

"  The  Rev.  John  A.  Vaughan,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  was 
elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of 
Dr.  Milnor."  The  latter,  however,  continued  in  the  labors 
of  the  office  until  the  4th  of  October,  1836  ;  about  which 
time  Dr.  Vaughan  took  his  place,  and  with  distinguished 
abihty  conducted  the  affairs  of  his  department.  The  final 
report  of  his  doings,  which  Dr.  Milnor  presented  on  retiring 
from  his  labors,  and  which  recounts  his  various  journeyings 
through  different  states,  on  the  business  of  his  agency,  may 
be  found  in  the  "Spirit  of  Missions"  for  November,  1836, 
pp.  328-333. 

Nor  was  it  in  the  business  alone  of  our  missionary  organ- 
ization, that  his  influence  was  benignly  felt,  but  in  the  spii-it 
also,  which  began  increasingly  to  pervade  the  missionary  life 
of  our  church.  The  different  diocesan  conventions,  and  their 
sinmltaneous  missionary  meetings,  which  he  attended  for  the 
purpose  of  addressing  their  assembled  clergy  and  laity,  be- 
came, in  no  poor  sense,  scenes  of  missionary  revival ;  and  the 
sermons  which  he  preached  at  many  other  places  on  his  way, 
were  the  blessed  means  of  diffusing  among  our  people  some 
portion  of  his  own  pure  and  ardent  missionary  zeal.  In 
short,  the  year  of  his  secretaryship  and  general  agency,  while 
it  was  doubtless  the  culminating  point  of  his  ascent  along 
the  path  of  active  duty,  was  also  to  our  church  a  season  of 
rich  and  lasting  benefit,  from  the  holy  influence  which  he 
carried  with  him  and  shed  along  his  course. 

His  correspondence  during  this  year  had  more  or  less 
direct  reference  to  the  work  in  which  he  was  engaged. 
Much  of  it  has  been  lost,  and  much  more  might  be  obtained 
by  searching  the  papers  which  he  left  in  the  office  of  the 
foreign  committee.  Being  chiefly  of  a  business  nature, 
however,  it  is  not  important  to  the  memoir;  we  therefore 


430  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

content  ourselves  with  some  of  the  letters  which  lie  within 
reach. 

The  following  bears  the  same  date  with  his  resignation, 
to  the  Board  of  Missions,  of  liis  office  as  secretary  and  gen- 
eral agent. 

To  the  Rt.  Rev.  C.  P.  Mcllvaine. 

"  New  York,  June  28,  1836. 

*' Right  Rev.  and  dear  Sir — I  return  you  many  thanks 
for  your  very  kind  and  interesting  letter  of  the  10th  inst,, 
of  which  I  had  great  pleasure  in  laymg  so  much  as  was  offi- 
cial before  the  foreign  committee  on  the  day  of  its  receipt, 
the  16th. 

"  Few  circumstances  were  better  calculated  to  fill  my 
mind  with  pleasing  anticipations,  than  your  invitation  to  be 
present  at  your  next  diocesan  convention ;  and  if  divine  Provi- 
dence should  favor  me  with  health,  and  I  should  then  be  in 
the  exercise  of  my  present  functions  as  secretary  and  general 
agent  of  the  foreign  committee,  I  entertain  the  hope  that  I 
may  be  allowed  the  privilege  of  meeting  you  at  Cleveland, 
ready  to  sow  as  God  may  give  the  ability,  a  portion  of  mission- 
ary seed  in  what  I  trust  will  prove  the  prolific  soil  of  Ohio. 

"  But  I  have  been  constrained  by  a  sense  of  duty  to  pre- 
sent to  the  Board  of  Missions  my  resignation  of  the  office  of 
secretary  and  general  agent ;  consenting  to  act,  should  it  be 
necessary,  until  the  middle  of  October  next,  when  my  full  year 
of  service  will  expire.  The  board  have,  in  very  kind  terms, 
accepted  my  resignation,  and  elected  the  Rev.  Mr.  Vaughau, 
of  Salem,  my  successor.  Whether  he  will  accept  the  station 
is  not  yet  known.  From  all  that  I  ha-^o  heard  of  his  charac- 
ter and  qualifications,  I  sincerely  hope  he  may.  If  he  should 
not,  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions  will  be  neces- 
sary to  fill  the  vacancy,  as  no  provision  is  made  in  the  con- 
stitution for  any  other  method  of  efiecting  that  object,  and  as 
it  would  be  almost  ruinous  to  the  cause  of  our  foreign  mis- 
sions for  the  committee  to  be  without  a  secretary  and  general 
agent  until  the  regular  meeting  of  the  board  next  year. 


HIS  MINISTRY.  431 

"  From  my  great  love  to  the  missionary  cause,  and  espe- 
cially the  extension  of  our  efforts  into  foreign  lands,  and  from 
the  gratification  which  the  absorbing  duties  of  my  office  have 
afforded  me  for  the  last  eight  months,  I  lamented  the  neces- 
sity of  my  resignation.  But  it  was  impossible  to  contuiue 
my  services  without  abandoning  my  connection  with  St. 
George's ;  and  of  this,  neither  my  own  feelings  nor  those 
of  my  beloved  people  would  allow.  In  the  missionary  office, 
my  time  of  life  warned  me  that  I  could  not  for  many  years 
render  efficient  and  satisfactory  service.  In  my  parish,  with 
such  aid  as  they  are  willing  to  allow  me  if  I  require  it,  I 
might,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  be  much  longer  useful.  He- 
linquishing,  a  few  years  hence,  my  present  office,  I  should 
be  left  without  the  opportunity  for  ministerial  usefulness 
during  the  remainder  of  my  life.  Retaining  my  parochial 
charge,  there  are  many  ways  in  which  I  might  much  longer 
serve  my  gracious  Master,  and  promote  the  spiritual  interests 
of  an  attached  and  most  indulgent  people. 

"  My  course,  though  professedly  regretted  by  my  friends, 
yet  has  generally  been  considered  that  which  duty  required 
me  to  pursue ;  and  I  shall  be  happy  to  have  the  approval 
of  one  with  whom  it  has  been  my  delight  to  '  take  sweet 
counsel'  for  so  many  years. 

*'  Your  faithful  friend  and  servant, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

The  next  letter  was  preparatory  to  his  projected  tour — 
a  hint  of  which  is  contained  in  his  last  letter  to  Bishop 
Mcllvaine — to  meet  the  diocesan  convention  of  the  church 
in  Ohio,  at  Cleveland. 

To   the  Rt.  Rev.  C.  P.  Mcllvaine. 

"New  York,  Aug.  11,  1836. 
"  Right  Rev.  and  dear  Sir — Agreeably  to  your  kind 
invitation,  I  am  endeavoring  to  make  all  practicable   ar- 
rangements for  being  present  at  your  convention  at  Clave- 


432  MEMOIU  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

land,  intending  to  make  that  tour  the  close  of  my  year's 
service  in  the  cause  of  foreign  missions. 

"  I  should  have  returned  an  earlier  answer  to  your  last 
obliging  favor,  but  the  amount  of  business  in  hand,  and  the 
little  prospect  of  obtaining  the  services  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Vaughan  until  the  middle  of  September,  threw  so  much 
discouragement  in  the  way  of  my  leaving  home,  that  I  was 
afraid  of  holding  out  any  decisive  prospect.  Now,  however, 
I  have  better  hopes.  In  conjunction  with  my  friend,  or 
rather  his  substitute,  of  the  domestic  agency,  I  have  got 
through  the  editing  of  the  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  num- 
bers of  the  '  Spirit  of  Missions,'  and  the  publication  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Board  of  Missions — which  last  will  make 
quite  a  large  pamphlet.  I  have  also  finished  the  required 
arrangements  in  regard  to  several  new  missions.  By  de- 
clining your  suggestion,  which  I  do  very  unwillingly,  in 
regard  to  the  Commencement  at  Gambier,  and  proceeding 
directly,  by  way  of  Buffalo,  to  Cleveland,  I  can  accomplish 
much  that  will  relieve  the  labors  of  my  successor. 

"  I  shall  be  able  to  make  many  needful  arrangements 
W-ith  Dr.  Robertson,  who  is  now  here  on  a  visit  of  business ; 
finish  all  our  transactions  in  reference  to  the  mission  at 
A-thens,  before  Mrs.  Hill's  departure,  which  will  be  on  the 
24th  inst.,  and  before  Mr,  Benton's  for  Crete,  which  will  be 
a  few  days  sooner ;  assist,  in  their  preparations,  our  two 
heroic  young  missionaries  for  AfHca,  Messrs.  Mhior  and 
Payne,  of  the  Virginia  seminary,  and  tranquillize  the  feel- 
ings of  two  or  three  other  anxious  expectants  of  missionary 
appointments ;  and  finally,  shall  find  it  possible  to  spend  a 
few  days  with  Mr.  Vaughan,  to  initiate  him  into  the  business 
of  the  office,  he  having  just  informed  me,  that  under  the 
circumstances  which  I  have  stated,  he  will  come  on  about 
the  20th  of  this  mon*h.  If,  therefore,  Providence  permit,  I 
hope  to  see  you  at  Cleveland  on  the  8th  of  next  month. 
"  I  am,  very  truly  and  respectfully,  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 


HIS  MINISTRY.  433 

He  left  home  on  Monday,  August  29  ;^and  upon  reaching 
Buffalo,  addressed  to  Mrs.  Milnor  the  following  almost  amus- 
ingly afflictive  account  of  the  manner  in  which  he  had  been 
unexpectedly  thrown  upon  his  extemporaneous  resources  in 
speaking. 

To  Mrs.  Milnor. 

"  Buffalo,  Sept.  4,  1836. 

"  My  dear  Ellen — My  last  was  dated  at  Auburn.  I 
left  there  on  Thursday,  about  one  o'clock,  for  Canandaigua, 
which  we  did  not  reach  till  ten  o'clock  at  night.  At  four 
the  next  morning,  I  proceeded  in  the  stage  for  Batavia, 
where  I  arrived  about  five  in  the  afternoon.  Having  caused 
notice  to  be  given  that  I  would  preach  in  the  evening,  I  was 
no  sooner  fixed  at  my  lodgings  with  the  rector,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Bolles,  than  I  went  to  my  chamber  to  change  my  clothes ; 
which,  having  accomplished,  as  the  hour  for  service  was  at 
hand,  I  went  to  the  bottom  of  my  trunk  in  search  for  my 
package  of  sermons,  when  behold,  it  was  not  to  be  found. 
How  you  could  have  omitted  to  put  it  into  my  trunk,  I  can- 
not divine.  I  am  certain  I  sent  it  up  to  the  chamber — I 
think,  by  James ;  and  now  I  can  only  blame  myself  that  I 
did  not  ascertain  the  fact  of  your  having  put  them  into  the 
trunk  by  inquiry  or  personal  examination.  Under  such  un- 
fortunate circumstances,  I  would  willingly  have  declined  all 
service,  and  have  returned  home ;  but  I  thought  myself 
condemned  to  the  mortification  of  addressing  the  congrega- 
tion at  Batavia  wholly  without  preparation,  for  the  time 
admitted  of  none.  I  did  so  ;  and  although  my  young  friend 
Bolles  was  pleased  to  solace  my  feelings  when  I  had  done, 
by  spying  that  '  my  loss  was  their  gain,'  yet  I  was  enough 
chagrined  and  dissatisfied  with  my  performance  to  rob  me 
of  the  comfort  of  sleep."  [An  evidence,  by  the  way,  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  severity  of  his  late  labors  for  the  com- 
mittee were  known  to  have  affected  his  whole  nervous 
system.] 

"  Yesterday,  I  came  to  this  place  in  the  afternoon,  and 

Mem.  Milnor.  1 9 


434  MEMOIR  OF  DU.  MILNOR. 

found  that  notice  had  been  given  last  Sunday,  that  I  would 
preach  to-day,  and  that  Mr.  Shelton,  depending  on  me  for 
the  whole  day,  had  prepared  no  discourse.  It  happened, 
providentially,  that  I  had  with  me  one  sermon,  that  which 
I  preached  last  Sunday  morning  in  St.  George's,  and  which, 
on  account  of  its  being  in  the  velvet  cover,  I  threw  into  the 
top  of  my  trunk,  just  before  it  was  closed. 

**  To-morrow,  or  next  day,  I  take  the  steamer  for  Cleve- 
land. You  may  judge  with  what  unhappy  feelings  I  go 
among  a  large  body  of  respectable  clergy  and  laity,  wholly 
unprepared  to  meet  the  expectations  which  have  been  raised. 
I  pray  God  he  may  enable  me,  however  imperfectly,  to  do 
something  in  the  cause  on  which,  in  his  name,  I  am  sent. 

"  Immediately  on  my  arrival  in  Buffalo,  I  went  to  the 
post-office,  with  the  hope  of  at  least  receiving  a  letter,  writ- 
ten after  your  discovery  of  the  omission  ;  and  I  even  hoped 
that  you  might  have  found,  through  the  agency  of  Mr. 
Cooke  or  Henry,  some  opportunity,  by  a  merchant  coming 
immediately  to  thife  place,  to  send  on  the  sermons.  But  not 
a  letter  was  there  for  me.  I  think  I  shall  delay  going  to 
Cleveland  till  Tuesday,  under  the  hope  that  the  mail  of  to- 
day or  to-morrow  may  relieve  my  anxiety. 

"  But  it  is  useless  to  say  more  on  the  subject.  No 
doubt,  I  merit  the  mortification  which  I  feel.  All  I  fear  is, 
its  injury  to  the  cause  committed  to  my  charge.  I  shall,  of 
course,  so  soon  as  the  convention  at  Cleveland  is  over,  hast- 
en back,  making  no  appointments  to  preach  on  the  way 
home,  and  probably,  God  willing,  reaching  you  the  latter 
end  of  next  week. 

^    *'  Give  my  love  to  all  the  family,  and  believe  rae 
"  Afiectionately  yours, 

"  JAMES  MILNOR." 

From  a  subsequent  letter  to  Mrs.  Milnor,  from  Cleve- 
land, it  appears  that  he  preached  at  Buflalo  Sunday  morn- 
ing, and  delivered  a  mission jjry  address  in  the  afternoon, 
followed  by  a  collection ;  and  that  he  started  for  Cleveland 


HIS  MINISTHY.  435 

at  nine  o'clock  Monday  morning,  in  a  steamer,  not  of  the 
largest  class,  loaded  with  "  more  than  eight  hundred  pas- 
sengers." 

"  Our  machinery,"  he  says,  "  gave  way  several  times, 
and  made  it  necessary  to  stop  for  repairs ;  but  no  serious 
difficulty  occurred.  I  feel  extremely  at  a  loss  for  my  ser- 
mons, considering  the  expectations  which  have  been  enter- 
tained of  the  part  I  was  to  take  in  the  religious  exercises  of 
the  convention.  I  shall  do,  however,  as  well  as  I  can  ;  and 
as  there  is  a  prospect  of  a  large  assemblage  of  clergy,  and 
among  them  Bishop  McCoskry,  the  want  of  my  services  will 
not  be  felt.  We  hope  to  have  an  uiteresting  missionary 
meeting  to-morrow  or  next  day."  ^ 

Such,  so  far  as  it  is  at  present  accessible,  is  all  the 
account  that  can  be  given  of  this,  the  last  missionary  tour 
undertaken  during  his  agency.  From  his  known  talents  as 
an  extemporaneous  speaker,  and  from  the  freshness  in  his 
mind  of  our  current  missionary  statistics,  he  probably  spoke 
as  much  and  as  well  without  his  "  sermons,"  as  he  would 
have  done  with  them ;  and  possibly  with  more  popular  ef- 
fect, from  the  greater  freedom  of  his  manner. 


SECTION   II. 

With  the  close  of  his  missionary  agency  we  are  already 
acquainted  ;  and  as  Mr,  Cooke  continued  most  acceptably  to 
labor  in  St.  George's  as  his  assistant,  for  some  time  after  his 
reengagement  exclusively  in  the  duties  of  his  parish  and  in 
his  ordinary  devotion  to  the  cause  of  general  benevolence, 
he  speedily  recovered  the  customary  tone  of  his  health,  and 
the  current  of  his  life  began  again  to  flow  in  its  wonted 
channel. 

The  following  brief  but  interesting  letters  from  across  the 
waters,  were  received  during  the  summer  and  fall  of  1836, 


436  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor. 

"  Foot's  Cray  Place,  June  9,  1836. 

"Dear  Sir — I  had  the  pleasure  to  receive  your  letter  of 
the  8th  March,  by  the  hands  of  Mr.  Jackson" — the  late 
Rev.  "Wilhara  Jackson — "  and  of  hearing  one  of  his  able  and 
valuable  statements  in  Exeter  Hall.  I  had  also  once  the 
honor  of  receiving  him  at  dinner ;  but  the  hospitality  which 
I  should  have  been  happy  to  show  him,  as  well  as  my  at- 
tendance at  religious  meetings  this  year,  has  been  checked 
by  the  pressure  of  a  heavy  domestic  affliction. 

"  I  was  happy  to  receive  from  his  conversation,  as  well 
as  from  other  accounts,  "^so  favorable  a  statement  of  the 
progress  of  the  Episcopal  church  in  the  United  States. 
God  grant  that  it  may  rapidly  extend  its  limits  still  fur- 
ther, and  obtain  increasing  success  against  infidelity  and 
false  doctrine.  The  consecration  of  missionary  bishops  not 
having  a  specific  diocese,  is,  I  think,  new  in  the  church ; 
but,  in  the  circumstances  of  your  country,  it  seems  to  me  a 
happy  novelty.  The  ministry  of  the  apostles  must  neces- 
sarily have  been  of  that  character.  It  has  also  much  of 
what  Dr.  Chalmers  recommends  in  what  he  calls  '  the  ag- 
gressive character ;'  and  such  I  hope  it  will  prove,  against 
ignorance,  error,  and  unbelief  Perhaps  we  may  consider 
our  new  colonial  bishops  of  Madras,  Bombay,  and  Australia, 
though  each  fixed  to  a  particular  diocese,  yet,  considering 
the  vast  extent  and  peculiar  nature  of  those  dioceses,  as 
having  a  very  similar  character  in  respect  to  duty  and  juris- 
diction. 

"  I  hope  you  will  not  think  any  apology  necessary  when 
you  may  give  another  friend  a  letter  of  introduction  to  me, 
as  it  will  always  give  me  pleasure  to  receive  any  communi- 
cation from  you,  but  especially  when  it  affords,  at  the  same 
time,  an  opportunity  of  forming  so  valuable  an  acquaintance 
as  Mr.  Jackson's.     Believe  me,  dear  sir, 

"  Very  faithfully,  yours, 

"BEXLEY." 


HIS  MINISTRY.  437 

To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milno'^r. 
"The  Mount,  near  Sheffield,  Oct.  15,  1836. 
"Rev.  and  dear  Sir — I  have  unexpectedly  caught  a 
minute  on  the  wing,  after  I  had  lost,  as  I  supposed,  all  op- 
portunity of  doing  it,  to  shake  hands  with  you  across  the 
Atlantic,  to  thank  you  for  your  kind  note  of  remembrance 
by  Dr.  Fisk,  and  to  assure  you  of  my  sincere  respect  and  es- 
teem, associated  with  pleasant  recollections  of  the  brief  but 
lucid  moments  of  Christian  intercourse  which  we  had  to- 
gether, when  you  were  in  this  country.  There  is  '  another 
country,'  of  which  all  of  every  land  on  earth,  that  are  horn 
of  God,  become  by  that  very  fact  natives, — even  a  heavenly 
country :  there  may  we,  and  all  whom  we  have  known  in 
the  flesh  as  of  one  spirit  with  us  in  the  Lord,  find  ourselves 
at  home  and  for  ever  with  him,  at  the  end  of  our  pilgrim- 
age.    Meanwhile,  I  am  truly 

"  Your  friend,  in  great  haste, 

"J.  MONTGOMERY." 

In  the  first  line  of  this  letter  we  see  the  jioet ;  in  every 
other,  the  Chrhtian — synonyms,  severally  and  together,  of 
the  beloved  name  subscribed. 

In  entering  on  the  year  1837,  we  find  little  to  mark 
the  course  of  Dr.  Milnor,  save  in  the  quiet  steps  which  he 
took  on  his  well-known  rounds  of  parochial  duty,  and  in 
his  various  engagements  with  benevolent  institutions.  He 
continued,  indeed,  till  the  day  of  his  death,  an  actmg  mem- 
ber of  the  Foreign  Executive  Committee,  whose  first  secre- 
tary he  had  been ;  and  his  mterest  in  our  foreign  missions 
remained  unabated  while  his  life  was  spared ;  but  his  ac- 
tion in  this  capacity  presents  nothing  distinctive  from  that 
of  his  fellow-members,  as  it  lies  on  the  records  of  the  com- 
mittee. The  few  letters,  therefore,  which  have  survived  for 
our  use,  still  furnish  us  with  the  principal  vestiges  of  his 
remaining  life.  Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  year  he  wrote 
as  follows : 


438  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

To  Bishop  Mcllvaine. 

"New  York,  January  31,  1837. 

"  Right  Rev.  and  dear  Sir — I  exceedingly  lament  the 
revival  of  controversy  in  the  church."  [The  tractarian 
movement  in  the  United  States  begins  its  development.] 
"  I  fear  a  new  comer  among  us  has  been  a  very  active  agent 

in  inciting to  his  present  course.     I  have  no  hesitation 

in  saying,  that  I  believe  the  reputed  author  of  '  Protestant 
Jesuitism,'  who  is  his  constant  companion,  has  been  instru- 
mental in  prompting  him  to  his  attack  on  Temperance, 
Bible,  and  Tract  societies.  For  my  own  part,  I  purpose,  at 
the  close  of  the  year,  to  drop  his  paper,  the  influence  of 
which,  as  for  some  time  past  conducted,  is  decidedly  irrelig- 
ious ;  and  not  a  number  of  which,  for  the  last  twelvemonth, 
has  been  without  some  article,  editorial  or  communicated, 
oflensive  to  the  feelings  of  moderate  churchmen  and  evan- 
gelical Christians.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted,  that  the  very 
superior  talents  of  the  editor  should  be  so  employed.  His 
influence  on  the  students  in  the  seminary  is  of  the  most 
unhappy  kind,  because  his  communication  with  them  affords 
him  the  oj)portunity  of  orally  impressing  on  them  the  lead- 
ing doctrines  of  his  paper,  and  of  filling  their  minds  with 
prejudices  against  all  who  do  not  subscribe  to  his  exclusive 
and  ultra-high  tenets.     The  bishop  told  me,   to-day,  that 

Mr. had  been  advised  to  cease  from  his  assaults  on  the 

Recorder  and  Dr.  Tyng ;  and  that  he  believed  there  would 
be  no  more  matter  of  that  sort  in  the  paper.  I  have  written 
to  the  editor  of  the  Recorder,  advising  him  to  take  no  notice 
whatever  of  his  attacks,  should  they  be  continued. 

"  For  my  own  part,  having  now  reached  my  '  grand 
climacteric,'  it  is  my  sincere  desire  to  be  '  at  peace  wdth  all 
men,'  and  much  more  intent  on  strengthening  my  assurance 
of  an  interest  in  the  Saviour's  love,  and  living  from  day  to 
day  in  the  pleasing  contemplation  of  the  enjoyment,  ere  long, 
of  his  presence  in  glory,  than  on  mingling  in  the  '  strifes  of 
words,'  in  which  some  appear  so  keenly  to  delight.     The 


HIS  MINISTRY.  439 

principles  with  which  I  set  out  in  myministiy,  are  those 
which  I  still  cherish ;  and  fully  believing  them-  to  be  scrip- 
tural and  true,  I  hope  to  carry  them  with  m.e  to  the  grave. 
But  even  for  them  I  will  not  angrily,  though  I  will  '  ear- 
nestly contend,'  as  for  '  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.' 
I  do  heartily  wish  to  adopt  into  my  daily  experience  the  feel- 
ings intimated  in  the  latter  part  of  your  letter ;  and  pray 
God  that  his  Holy  Spirit  may  enable  me  to  be  like-minded 
with  one  whose  labors  he  has  so  eminently  blessed,  and 
whose  exaltation  to  a  high  rank  he  will,  I  trust,  make  the 
means  of  enlarged  usefulness  to  his  church. 

"  Your  externalism,  I  am  persuaded,  will  never  be  allow- 
ed to  usurp  the  place  of  spiritual  affections  and  ardent  devo- 
tion to  God,  love  to  his  children  of  every  name,  and  a  supreme 
regard  to  the  doctrines  of  the  cross.  '  O  si  sic  mnnes.''  But 
alas,  with  us,  formalism,  a  love  for  externalism,  which  de- 
stroys every  feeling  of  vital  piety,  a  dislike  of  those  who  place 
inward  religion  above  outward  show,  and  an  apparently 
positive  repugnance  to  those  who  do  not  walk  with  us,  are 
such  offensive  features  in  the  character  of  many,  that  I  am 
compelled,  in  view  of  the  disastrous  consequences,  to  cling 
to  my  old  preferences,  and  most  sedulously  to  avoid  those 
evils  which  are  prostrating,  in  so  many  souls,  every  thing 
most  dear  to  the  hearts  of  evangelical  Christians. 

"  With  earnest  prayers  for  your  personal  happiness  and 
official  success,  I  remain, 

"  Respectfully  and  affectionately,  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOH." 

To  the  Rt.  Rev.  B.  B.  Smith,  D.  D. 

"  New  York,  April  7,  1837. 
"Right  Rev.  and  dear  Bishop — You  will,  I  am  sure, 
prefer  that  I  should  atone  for  my  long-continued  neglect  of 
your  kind  letters,  by  now  writing  you  a  long  one,  to  my 
wasthig  time  in  apologies,  the  character  of  which  your  good- 
ness and  your  knowledge  of  my  daily  occupations  have  already 
anticipated.     I  proceed,  therefore,  to  notice  a  topic  to  which 


440  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

your  favors  of  last  wmter  require  me  to  advert :  the  report 

made  to  you  by  Mr. of  our  conversation  about  your 

essay  in  '  the  Literary  and  Theological  Review,'  It  is  more 
than  probable,  that  he  has  given  it  an  unwarrantable  color- 
ing. Certainly  he  did  so,  if  he  represented  me  as  expressing 
any  thing  more  than  deep  regret  that  you  should  have  given 
publicity  to  sentiments,  in  regard  to  admission  to  the  Lord's 
supper,  which  were  apparently  at  variance  with  the  univer- 
sal practice  of  the  evangelical  clergy  of  our  church,  with 
what  we  had  understood  to  be  your  own,  and  with  what  I 
considered  a  course  of  bounden  duty  on  the  part  of  every 
rector  of  a  church  of  our  communion.  At  that  time,  it  will 
be  remembered,  we  were  without  any  explanation  from  you 
of  an  article  of  which  every  clergyman  of  our  views  had 
expressed  strong  disapprobation ;  which  had  occasioned  severe 
animadversions  in  some  pulpits,  on  the  inadequacy  and  error 
of  views  entertained  by  even  the  best  portion  of  our  Zion ; 
and  which  had  caused  our  high-churchmen  to  exult  at  the 
gain  they  had  acquired,  in  an  evangelical  bishop's  advocacy 
of  principles  to  which  they  boasted  of  having  ever  adhered. 
And  now,  my  dear  bishop,  though  I  feel  bound  gratefully  to 
acknowledge  the  frankness  with  which  you  have  disavowed 
the  latitudinarian  views  of  Christian  communion  supposed  to 
be  maintained  in  your  essay,  yet  I  am  sure  your  candor  will 
excuse  my  continuing  to  regret  that  it  should  have  exhibited 
the  subject  in  such  a  light  as  to  have  impressed  all,  both 
friends  and  foes,  with  a  like  understanding  of  its  import.  As 
the  matter  now  stands,  the  demand  of  a  reasonable  satisfac- 
tion, on  the  part  of  every  pastor,  with  the  sufficiency  of  the 
religious  qualifications  expressly  required  by  the  church,  in 
all  who  partake  of  the  Lord's  supper,  I  understand  as  having 
your  decided  approval.  This  is  all  I  desire.  I  would  not 
have  the  exercise  of  this  judgment  placed  in  other  hands.  I 
would  not,  even  by  the  proper  officer,  have  what  I  consider 
an  undoubted  right,  in  the  overseer  of  eveiy  flock,  harshly  or 
inquisitorially  used ;  and  I  would  be  very  careful  that  no 


HIS  MINISTRY.  441 

other  terms  of  communion  be  exacted  thaii  such,  as  are  strictly- 
authorized  by  the  gospel  and  the  church.  Of  the  duty  of 
antecedent  family  and  parochial  instruction,  you  have  not 
spoken  in  terms  too  strong.  Of  its  effect,  under  God's  bless- 
ing, we  ought  to  entertain  much  hope.  And  yet,  facts  but 
too  strongly  prove,  that  education,  even  when  best  conduct- 
ed, will  not  always  make  our  children  Christians ;  and  Ave 
should  beware  of  trusting  to  any  other  power  than  that  of 
God  to  change  their  hearts  and  qualify  them  for  spiritual 
communion  in  the  ordinances  of  the  church.  I  am  sure  there 
can  be  no  essential  difference  of  views  on  this  subject  among 
evangelical  Christians.  Let  no  means  be  omitted.  Let  a 
just  confidence  in  God  accompany  their  use.  But  let  the 
final  reference  be  wholly  to  the  omnipotence  of  his  grace. 
"  Your  faithful  brother  in  Christ, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 
The  next  shows  that,  though  no  longer  secretary  and 
general  agent,  he  was  yet  busy  in  our  missionary  affairs  as 
an  ordinary  member  of  the  board. 

To   Mrs.  Milnor. 

"Baltimore,  June  12,  1837. 
"  My  dear  Ellen — The  session  of  our  Board  of  Missions 
closed  on  Friday  evening,  in  time  for  me  to  make  an  address 
at  the  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Bible  Society  of  this  state. 
On  Saturday  I  was  favored  with  a  ride  round  the  precincts 
of  the  city,  which  are  ornamented  with  many  handsome  coun- 
try-seats. Yesterday  I  preached  in  three  different  chuches ; 
and  to-day,  I  have  been  prevailed  on  to  remain  for  a  little 
repose  before  I  start  on  my  journey  homeward. 

"  I  have  received  a  message  from  General  Sewell  and 
his  lady,  of  Elkton,  pressing  me  to  pay  them  a  short  visit  on 
my  way.  I  have  not  yet  made  up  my  mind  whether  I  shall 
do  so  or  not.  If  I  should,  I  will  write  you  from  that  placo, 
and  let  you  know  what  day  you  may  expect  me  home. 
"Affectionately  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 
19# 


442  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

About  this  time,  the  fever  of  excitement  in  our  church, 
produced  by  the  development  of  theological  tendencies  in  our 
General  Theological  Seminary,  began  to  run  high.  To  this 
state  of  things  some  passages  in  the  following  letter  refer 

To  Bishop  Mcllvaine. 

"New  York,  June  30,  1838. 

"Right  Rev.  and  dear  Sir — When  I  received  your 
favor  of  the  21st  instant,  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  General 
Theological  Seminary  were  in  session,  and  had  already  pass- 
ed upon  the  question,  whether  they  would  appoint  to  the 
temporary  occupation  of  the  two  vacant  professorships — 
Evidences  and  Pastoral  Theology — or,  as  heretofore,  refer 
the  business  to  the  standing  committee.  The  determination 
of  the  question  was  in  favor  of  the  reference ;  and  of  course, 
not  a  word  was  said  about  the  present  incumbents.  In  this 
state  of  things,  I  thought  it  would  be  best  not  to  lay  your 
communication  before  the  board,  but  reserve  it  for  the  stand- 
ing committee,  provided  you  deem  it  expedient,  and  will 
authorize  me  either  to  alter  the  direction,  or  to  submit  it  as 
it  is,  after  stating  the  reason  above-mentioned  for  its  not 
having  been  submitted  to  the  board. 

"Dr. 's  extraordinary  course  is  a  subject  of  gen- 
eral conversation,  and — so  far  as  I  have  conversed  with  our 
clerical  brethren,  without  distinction  of  party — of  pretty  gen- 
eral condemnation.  A  few  either  justify  his  views,  or  give 
them  such  a  gloss  as  to  lessen  their  apparent  heterodoxy. 

"  I  have  spent  three  days  with  the  committee  of  exami- 
nation for  the  seminary  ;  the  result  of  wliich  has  been  satis- 
factory. About  twenty  received  testimonials.  The  disserta- 
tions read  at  the  commencement  yesterday,  were  all  respect- 
able, and  some  of  them  excellent ;  no  '  progressive  justifica- 
tion' or  Universalism  being  apparent.  Every  student  with 
whom  I  have  conversed,  has  expressed  decided  opposition  to 

the  views  of  Dr. .     A  very  few,  I  understand,  are  his 

advocates.     I  sincerely  hope,  that  the  injurj'  which  he  maj 


HIS  MINISTRY.  443 

do  them,  will  be  prevented  by  the  refit^al  of  the  standing 
committee  to  reappoint  him. 

"  Last  week  I  attended  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, at  Boston.  It  was  not  so  large  as  could  have  been 
wished,  but  was  conducted  in  a  good  spirit,  and  with  perfect 
harmony. 

"My  assistant  has  become  disabled  for  duty,  by  a  rush 
of  blood  to  the  head  ;  so  that  I  expect  to  have  the  whole 
charge  of  pulpit  and  parochial  duty,  for  the  remainder  of  the 
summer. 

"  Yours,  most  truly, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

To  Mrs.  Milnor. 

"Philadelphia,  September  9,  1838. 

"  My  dear  Ellen — On  the  principle  that  no  news  is 
good  news,  I  presume  you  will  take  it  for  granted  that  all 
has  been  well  with  me  since  I  left  home.  We  have  a  full 
convention,  all  the  bishops  being  now  present.  At  the  open- 
ing of  the  convention,  we  had  an  excellent  sermon  from 
Bishop  Meade  ;  on  Thursday  evenmg,  an  interesting  dis- 
course from  Bishop  Otey,  at  St.  Stephen's,  before  the  Board 
of  Missions  ;  and  on  Friday  evening,  a  missionary  meeting  at 
St.  Andrews,  at  which  six  of  the  bishops  made  addresses. 

"  The  convention  sit  every  day  from  nine  till  three,  and 
at  five  the  Board  of  Missions  hold  their  sittings ;  so  that, 
with  meetings  of  important  committees  as  they  can  find  op- 
portunity, our  time  is  fully  occupied;  and,  with  long  walks, 
occasioned  by  the  distance  of  my  residence  from  the  place  of 
meeting,  I  go  to  bed  every  night  thoroughly  fatigued. 

"  Please  tell  Mr.  Cooke,  that  the  business  of  dividing  our 
diocese  has  gone  on  well.  The  amendments  to  the  consti- 
tution, authorizing  that  measure,  have  passed  with  great 
unanimity  ;  and  Bishop  Onderdonk  will,  I  presume,  leave 
this  city  on  Tuesday  morning,  in  order  to  be  present  at  the 
special  convention  which  is  to  sit  in  New  York  at  five  o'clock 
on  the  evening  of  that  day.     He  will  immediately  return, 


444  MEMOm  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

with  their  final  action  on  the  suhject ;  when  the  ratification 
by  the  General  Convention  will  take  place,  and  all  will  bo 
complete.     Believe  me 

"  Your  affectionate  husband, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

Almost  a  year  intervenes  between  the  date  of  this  letter 
and  the  next — the  time  being  spent  in  his  usually  numer- 
ous engagements — but  no  letters  of  importance  having  sur- 
vived to  mark  any  special  incidents  on  its  passage.  The 
summer  vacation  of  1839  Dr.  Milnor  spent  on  a  tour  with 
Bishop  Meade  to  Niagara  and  through  the  Canadas.  The 
following  marks  a  portion  of  their  progress. 

To  Mrs.  Milnor. 
"  Schenectady,  Friday,  Aug.  9,  1839. 
"  My  dear  Ellen — I  drop  you  a  line,  just  to  give  you  an 
account  of  our  progress  thus  far.  "VYe  had  a  delightful  pas- 
sage up  the  river  to  Albany ;  and,  on  our  arrival,  concluded 
to  proceed  immediately  to  Troy,  the  owners  of  the  boat  send- 
ing us  and  others  thither  in  a  small  steamer  free  of  expense. 
After  tea  at  Troy,  we  walked,  under  the  guidance  of  a  Mr. 
Cannon,  who  introduced  himself  to  me  as  an  old  parishioner, 
to  Mr.  Walker's  institute  for  boys,  which  Bishop  Meade  was 
desirous  of  seeing.  There  we  spent  the  evening,  attending 
the  chapel  worship  of  the  school,  and  then  went  back  to  our 
inn  in  the  town.  In  the  morning  we  saw  the  Episcopal 
clergy  of  the  place,  visited  Judge  Buel  and  Mrs.  Willard's 
seminary,  and  about  eleven  o'clock  went  back  by  coach  to 
Albany,  where  we  dined,  and  left  for  this  place  at  half-past 
two  o'clock,  P.  M.  Here  we  visited  the  Episcopal  church, 
took  a  general  survey  of  the  place,  went  to  Union  college 
and  drank  tea  with  Professor  Potter,  walked  through  the 
beautiful  gardens  of  the  college,  and  then  returned  ;  Dr.  Pot- 
ter accompanying  us  to  our  lodgings. 

"  This  morning  we  intend  to  proceed,  at  half-past  nine, 
m  the  cars  for  the  West,  expecting  to  sleep  to-night  at  An- 


Ills  MINISTRY.  445 

bum.     I  never  felt  better  in  my  life,  an^  anticipate  a  pleas- 
ant day  in  passing  up  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk. 
"  Affectionately  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOU." 

To  the  same. 
"  Steamer  United  States,  Aug.  13,  1839. 
"  My  dear  Ellen — I  write  in  the  cabin  of  the  steamer 
in  which  we  left  Lewiston  about  five  o'clock  this  afternoon, 
bound  down  lake  Ontario  to  Ogdensburg-,  whence  we  propose 
to  cross  into  Canada  and  visit  Montreal,  and  probably  Gtue- 
bec.  We  have  prosecuted  our  journey  by  every  species  of 
conveyance — steam-boats,  railroads,  canals,  and  coaches — 
and  have  met  with  no  unpleasant  circumstances  on  our  Avay. 
Except  a  little  rain  on  Sunday,  the  weather  has  been  clear 
and  pleasant,  though  uncommonly  cool  for  the  season.  After 
leaving  Schenectady,  we  passed  through  Utica  and  Syracuse, 
and  spent  our  Sunday  in  Rochester,  where  Bishop  Meade 
preached  three  times,  and  I  twice,  in  the  two  beautiful 
churches  of  that  delightful  city.  Rochester  far  exceeds  my 
anticipations,  both  in  elegance  and  extent.  Yesterday  we 
proceeded  by  railroad  to  Batavia,  and  thence  in  post-coaches 
to  Buffalo.  After  breakfast  to-day  we  proceeded,  by  the 
cars,  to  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  and  spent  several  hours — not 
so  long  as  we  could  have  wished — in  surveying  those  stu- 
pendous cataracts.  In  viewing  them.  Bishop  Meade  antici- 
pated disappointment,  but  found  them  far  exceeding  his 
expectations.  We  were  compelled  reluctantly  to  leave  them, 
at  half  past  two,  for  Lewiston,  in  order  to  secure  our  passage 
this  evening  down  the  lake.  Our  expectation  is  to  be  in 
Cluebec  on  Sunday,  and  on  the  next  day  to  return  to  Mon- 
treal, taking  lake  George  and  Burlington,  Yt.,  on  our  home- 
ward way.  I  will,  however,  write  you  again  when  I  can 
more  exactly  ascertain  how  we  shall  stand  for  time. 
"  Your  faithful  and  affectionate 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 


446  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

If,  however,  he  wrote  again  during  his  absence,  his  letter 
is  lost,  and  the  above  is  all  we  know  of  this  summer's  north- 
em  tour.  Through  what  part  of  the  Canadas  the  two  friends 
passed  during  this  interesting  excursion,  or  whether  they 
visited  any  part  of  those  provinces  but  the  cities  of  duebec 
and  Montreal,  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining.  Indeed, 
it  is  to  be  regretted  that  Dr.  Milnor  either  kept  no  journal  or 
has  preserved  none  ;  for  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  he  formed 
many  new  and  interesting  acquaintances,  and  met  with  many 
new  and  interesting  incidents,  in  the  course  of  his  journey  ; 
or  that,  if  we  had  but  some  of  the  sweet  communings  of  the 
two  friends  by  the  way,  they  would  make  a  pleasant  and  a 
profitable  chapter  in  the  present  memoir. 


SECTION   III. 

The  Oxford  Tract  controversy  had  now  made  an  open 
entiy  into  our  church  through  the  republication,  in  New 
York,  of  the  "  Tracts  for  the  Times."  Dr.  Milnor's  letters, 
therefore,  to  his  principal  correspondents  may  be  expected 
distinctly  to  define  his  position  in  relation  to  the  agitating 
questions  thus  introduced.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  position 
was  not  left  doubtful. 

To  Bishop  Mcllvaine. 

"New  York,  Jan.  31,  1840, 
"  My  dear  Bishop — I  should  sooner  have  answered  your 
kind  favors  of  the  17th  of  December,  and  the  6th  instant, 
but  that  I  hoped  before  this  time  to  have  read  your  anx- 
iously expected  charge  on  'justification,'  and  to  have  com- 
municated to  you  some  information  of  the  manner  in  which 
it  had  been  here  received,  and  of  the  effects  which  it  had 
produced.     The  delay  in  its  appearance  is  a  little  provoking ; 


HIS  MINISTHY.  447 

but  no  doubt  we  shall  be  amply  comperrisated  whenever  it 
arrives. 

"  I  am  glad  my  little  protest  against  one  of  the  many 
errors  of  the  school  at  Oxford,  meets  your  approbation.  It 
has  excited  the  disapprobation  of  a  few ;  and  among  them, 
of  the  editor  of '  the  New  York  Review,'  who,  as  I  presume 
you  have  seen,  entirely  approves  of  the  new  divinity,  and 
charges  me,  without  quoting  a  line  of  my  sermon  in  proof, 
with  advancing  a  view  of  the  nature  and  design  of  the  eu- 
charist  which  is  positively  Socinian  !  It  was,  I  fear,  in  a 
wrong  spirit  that  the  doctor  put  on  record  this  unfounded 
charge.  Some  time  since,  I  dined  in  his  company  ;  and 
after  dinner  the  subject  of  the  Oxford  tracts  was  brought 
upon  the  carpet.  At  that  time  he  had  evidently  made  him- 
self but  little  acquainted  with  them ;  yet  with  very  imper- 
fect second-hand  information,  he  undertook  to  become  their 
defender ;  endeavoring,  however,  to  controvert  my  represen- 
tations of  some  of  their  views,  and  to  give  a  plausible  gloss 
to  such  as  he  could  not  deny.  I  had  just  risen  from  a  fort- 
night's study  of  the  whole  series  of  '  the  Tracts,'  and  was 
therefore  prepared  to  exhibit  them  in  their  true  colors.  Sev- 
eral clergymen  of  our  church  were  present,  and  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  chancellor  of  the  university.  One  intel- 
ligent clergyman  remarked,  that  I  had  '  floored  Dr. on 

every  point ;'  and  several  confessed  the  impression  which  my 
argument  made  on  their  minds  against  the  tracts.  The 
doctor,  however,  is  much  abler  with  his  pen  than  with  his 
tongue.  He  has  since,  no  doubt,  studied  the  tracts  atten- 
tively ;  and  I  am  ready,  his  spirit  towards  me  notwithstand- 
ing, to  acknowledge  the  talent  displayed  in  his  review,  though 
I  regret  its  employment  m  such  a  cause. 

"  And  now,  in  reference  to  this  dangerous  system,  I  fear 
that  it  is  to  obtain  an  influence  in  our  church  quite  equal  to 
that  which  it  is  exerting  across  the  M'^ater.  In  our  diocese, 
the  bishop  expresses  his  entire  approval  of  its  doctrines.  In 
answer  to  a  clergyman  who  said  that  he  could  go  half  way 


448  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

with  the  authors  of  the  tracts,  the  bishop  told  him  to  read 
and  study  them  more  attentively,  and  he  would  be  prepared, 
like  himself,  to  go  the  whole.  He  inquires  of  all  the  can- 
didates for  orders,  whether  they  have  read  them  ;  and  if  not, 
urges  them  to  do  so  :  and  many  of  the  students  in  the  semi- 
nary— though  few  have  read  more  than  the  numbers  repub- 
lished in  New  York — are  yet  their  loud  eulogists,  and  con- 
sider the  promulgation  of  these  '  primitive  views '  as  consti- 
tuting a  more  propitious  era  to  the  Church  than  that  of  the 
Reformation,  the  fanaticism  of  whose  conductors  carried 
them  so  far  ultra  mediam  viam,  in  their  correction  of  a  few 
acknowledged  errors  hi  the  Roman  church  I  We  thought 
we  had  achieved  somewhat,  when  we  prevented  the  return 

of to  his  temporary  professorship  ;  but,  unhappily,  the 

seminary  contains  a  man  of  more  influence,  one  too  who 
constantly  exerts  that  influence  in  favor  of  Puseyism,  and 
whose  reputation  for  learning  and  piety  enables  him  to  exer- 
cise a  powerful  control  over  the  students.  A  few  of  them 
come  to  me  to  unburden  their  griefs,  and  especially  to  deplore 
the  sad  efiects  of  the  Oxford  divinity  on  the  spirituality  of 
some  of  their  associates,  of  whose  evangelical  tendency  they 
had,  some  time  ago,  the  brightest  hopes.  I  verily  believe, 
that  when  about  half  a  dozen  precious  souls  shall  have  left 
the  institution,  there  will  remain  scarcely  an  advocate  Ibr 
the  scriptural  doctrines  of  our  articles  and  homihes  m  their 
plain,  unsophisticated  sense.  And  then,  when  we  consider 
the  advanced  age  of  one  or  two  of  our  evangelical  bishops, 
which  will  prevent  their  eflective  opposition,  the  balancing 
state  of  mind  in  some  of  their  juniors,  and  the  reluctance  oi 
others  among  them  to  engage  in  controversy,  my  fears  grow 
still  more  serious,  and  my  only  confidence  is,  that '  when  the 
enemy  cometh  in  like  a  flood,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  will  liH 
up  a  standard  against  him.' 

"  I  regret  that  I  cannot  send  you  a  copy  of  the  very  excel 
lent  charge  of  the  Bishop  of  Calcutta.  One  was  lent  to  me  ; 
and  so  far  as  I  know,  it  is  the  only  one  in  the  city.     Please 


HIS  MINISTRY.  449 

remember  me,  my  dear  bishop,  in  your  daily  prayers,  and 
believe  me 

"  Yours,  most  truly  and  affectionately, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

To  the  same. 

"New  York,  Feb.  8,  1840. 

"  E.IGHT  Rev.  and  dear  Brother — I  regret  that  it  is 
not  in  my  power  to  send  you,  in  the  way  proposed,  any  of 
my  numbers  of  the  Christian  Observer,  as  they  are  all  bound 
in  volumes  to  the  close  of  the  past  year.  But  although  the 
numbers  for  the  last  two  years  and  upwards  contain  much 
matter  in  relation  to  the  Oxford  tracts,  and  all  their  various 
errors  are,  more  or  less,  the  subject  of  remark,  yet  you  will 
perceive  their  examination  to  be  of  less  importance  to  you, 
when  I  mention  that  neither  Newman's  Lectures  on  Justifi- 
cation, nor  Dr.  Pusey's  Letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  is  the 
subject  of  a  specific  review.  The  lectures  of  the  former  on 
Romanism  are  briefly  reviewed,  but  without  any  material 
reference  to  the  subject  oi justification  ;  but  neither  of  the 
other  works  is  more  than  incidentally  noticed.  I  doubt 
whether,  from  any  of  the  animadversions,  scattered  in  brief 
notices  throughout  the  period  referred  to,  you  would  derive 
much  information  beyond  what  you  already  possess,  in  rela- 
tion to  their  avowed  doctrine  of  justification  by  baptism, 
further  justification  by  self-mortifying  observances,  etc.,  and 
final  justification  at  the  day  of  judgment :  the  same  system 
so  broadly  avowed  in  the  correspondence  between  Bishop 
Jebb  and  Mr.  Knox,  the  inadequacy  of  which  to  afibrd  true 
comfort  to  the  dying  Christian,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  was 
so  powerfully  realized  by  the  latter  in  his  last  sickness. 

"  I  have  made  inquiry  of  booksellers,  in  hope  of  being 
able  to  obtain  for  you  such  numbers  of  the  Christian  Ob- 
server as  contain  the  most  valuable  matter  in  relation  to  the 
doctrine  which  is  the  subject  of  your  charge  ;  but  they  are 
not  to  be  had.     The  Recorder  has,  I  think,  made  a  pretty 


450  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

good  use  of  them  in  the  numerous  extracts  which  it  has  pub- 
lished. The  talents  of  Mr.  Wilks  as  a  controversialist,  are 
far  greater  than  I  supposed  him  to  possess ;  and  he  enters 
into  the  battle  with  the  altitudinarians  at  Oxford  con  amore. 
He  is,  I  think,  about  the  most  annoying  assailant  with  whom 

they  have  to  contend.     Here,  next  to  Dr. ,  perhaps  even 

before  him,  ranks  Dr. ,  as  an  earnest  defender  of  the 

Oxford  tracts.  His  review  of  them — to  which,  in  my  last 
letter,  I  referred,  and  which,  no  doubt,  you  have  ere  now 
seen — is,  in  some  instances,  a  direct  defence  of  their  anti- 
protestant  doctrines,  and  in  others  an  attempt,  by  subtle 
casuistry,  to  disguise  their  enormities.  The  bishop's  mflu- 
ence  also  is  very  injurious  ;  and  yoA,  while  he  is  recommend- 
ing the  study  of  these  tracts  to  candidates  for  orders,  with  a 
decided  expression  of  opinion  in  their  favor,  I  have  very 
recently  attended  examinations  at  which  both  his  questions 
and  the  answers  of  the  candidates  were  any  thing  but  in 
accordance  with  their  doctrines.  He  has  never  yet  intro- 
duced the  subject  to  me,  nor  to  any  one  in  my  presence ; 
but  students  have,  in  several  instances,  informed  me  of  his 
high  eulogy  of  the  Oxford  divinity,  as  being  the  same  with 
that  which  he  has  taught  for  many  years,  even  long  before 
the  movement  in  Great  Britain.  In  that  country,  Dr.  WolfT 
has  avowed  himself  an  adherent  of  most  of  the  Oxford  pecu- 
liarities. The  Wilberforces  are  said  to  be  coworkers  with 
the  school,  and  even  our  friend  Melvill  is  suspected."  [  Since 
that  time,  some  of  the  suspected  ones  have  cleared  them- 
selves.] "  God  be  thanked,  ive  have  yet  some  bishops,  and 
I  trust  a  goodly  number  of  presbyters,  who  will  have  moral 
courage  enough  to  stick  to  the  Bible  as  the  only  rule  of  faith, 
and  to  our  articles  and  homilies,  not  merely  on  the  ground 
of  their  ecclesiastical  authority,  but  because  they  are  so 
dehghtfuUy  accordant  with  God's  precious  book.  \Ye  are 
beyond  measure  anxious  for  your  charge.  Pray  do  not  delay 
its  publication.  If  any  thing  is  wanting  in  the  first,  it  can 
be  supplied  in  a  second  edition.     I  hope  your  bookseller  wiJ. 


HIS  MINISTRY.  451 

send  a  consideralDle  number  for  sale  at  the  eastward,  where, 
I  assure  you,  it  is  awaited  with  much  impatience. 
"  Truly,  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

Whatever  of  correspondence  may  have  passed  between 
Dr.  Milnor  and  his  friends  during  the  spring,  summer,  and 
autumn  of  1840,  all  that  was  valuable  in  it  has  been  lost,  or 
proved  irrecoverable.  He  spent  his  summer  vacation  on  a 
visit  to  lake  George  and  its  neighborhood ;  but  no  trace  of 
his  tour  remains,  with  the  exception  of  one  brief  note  to  Mrs. 
Milnor,  informing  her  of  his  arrival  at  the  Springs,  and  of 
his  intention  to  proceed  to  the  lake  the  next  afternoon.  At 
the  close  of  the  year  he  received  notice  that  he  would  soon 
be  called  to  make  another  nomination  to  the  Milnor  profes- 
sorship in  Kenyon  college.  The  letter  containing  this  notice 
is  pertment  to  these  memoirs. 

From  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sparrow. 

"Gambier,  Dec.  17,  1840. 

"  Rev.  and  deap^  Sip^ — Having  concluded  to  remove  from 
this  diocese  to  that  of  Virginia,  and  accept  a  situation  offered 
mie  in  their  theological  seminary,  it  seems  proper  that  I 
should  apprize  you  of  my  intention. 

"  Years  ago,  when  I  was  much  younger  in  age,  and  much 
younger  still  in  health  and  strength,  you  very  unexpectedly 
nominated  me  to  the  Milnor  professorship.  That  so  much 
confidence  should  be  reposed  in  one  so  young  and  so  little 
known,  was  a  wonder  to  me ;  and  I  can  truly  say,  helped, 
with  higher  considerations,  to  make  me  solicitous  to  discharge 
my  duty  faithfully.  The  value  of  truth,  pure  truth,  '  the 
truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,'  in  mat- 
ters of  religion  even  more  than  in  the  affairs  of  the  judg- 
ment-hall, I  have  always  felt  to  be  important ;  and  the  inci- 
dent referred  to  was  a  stimulus,  additional  to  every  other,  to 
'  give  heed  to  my  doctrine.'  How  far  I  have  succeeded  is 
certainly  known  to  none  but  the  mfallible  Judge  in  heaven. 


452  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

This,  however,  I  think  I  may  say  to  you,  that  during  eleven 
years'  duty  in  this  station,  I  have  never  seen  occasion  to 
depart  in  the  least  from  the  spirit  of  those  instructions  which, 
when  a  lonely  student  in  New  York,  I  used  to  seek  in  the 
lecture-room  of  St,  George's  on  week-day  evenings.  May 
they  as  certainly  carry  me,  through  infinite  grace  and  mercy, 
to  the  inheritance  which  I  seek  above,  as  I  have  endeavored 
to  inculcate  them  on  the  minds  committed  to  my  care. 

"  I  regret  exceedingly,  that  when  I  was  last  in  New  York 
I  was  not  able  to  enjoy  more  of  your  society,  and  have  some 
free  conversation  with  you  about  the  state  of  religion  in  our 
church.  Your  long  and  careful  study  of  events  as  they  have 
arisen  among  us,  would  naturally  give  weight  to  your  judg- 
ment upon  such  matters,  and  not  least  with  me.  How  you 
interpret  some  of  the  '  signs  of  the  times '  I  cannot  conjec- 
ture. In  reference  to  some  things,  there  is  more  obscurity, 
vacillancy,  and  ambiguity  about  the  doings  of  some  portions 
of  our  church,  than  I  like  to  see.     I  think  the  declaration 

of  the  ,  whose  ability  and  honesty  I  respect — that 

the  only  difference  between  the  high  and  the  low  church 
portions  of  our  communion,  is  one  oi  feeling — a  question 
simply  of  more  or  less  zeal — one  of  the  severest  satires  ever 
inflicted  on  a  respectable  and  intelligent  body  of  ecclesias- 
tics. Were  I  near  you,  I  should  like  to  canvass  with  you  in 
person  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 

"But  you  will  excuse  all  this  irrelevancy.  My  only 
object  in  writing  was  to  announce  to  you,  as  the  person  who 
nominated  me  and  will  have  the  nomination  of  my  successor 
to  the  Milnor  professorship,  that  I  expect  to  retire  from  my 
present  position  about  the  end  of  the  next  spring  vacation ; 
that  is,  about  the  first  of  May. 

"  Present  my  respects  to  Mrs.  Milnor,  and  believe  me, 
"  Rev.  and  dear  sir,  most  truly, 

**  Your  obliged  friend  and  servant, 

'•WILLIAM  SPARROW." 
"The  Rev.  James  Milnor,  D.  D.,  New  York." 


HIS  MINISTRY.  453 

About  this  period  the  onsets  of  the  -^^- upon  Bishop 

Mcllvaine  appear,  from  his  letters  to  Dr.  Milnor,  to  have 
become  marked  both  for  frequency  and  for  violence.  To  this 
state  of  things  allusions  are  made  in  the  following  letters  to 
the  bishop. 

"New  York,  January  15,  1841. 

"  My  dear  Bishop — Immediately  on  the  receipt  of  your 
letter,  I  sent  the  accompanying  communication  to  Bishop 

,  and  have  no  doubt  it  w^as  on  his  suggestion  that  the 

editor  of  the has  tried  to  make  his  peace  w^ith  you 

by  personal  correspondence.  I  am  glad  you  have  insisted 
on  the  publication  of  all  the  letters  ;  though  I  should  not 
w^onder  if,  encouraged  by  the  bishop's  unqualified  patronage, 
he  should  exclude  your  vindication  from  his  paper,  and  sub- 
stitute some  half-w^ay,  unintelligible  apology  of  his  own. 

"  I  have  read,  with  great  delight,  your  interesting  and 
elaborate  examination  of  the  principles  of  the  Oxford  divin- 
ity, and  earnestly  hope  it  may  have  a  wide-extended  circula- 
tion. But  when  this  edition  is  disposed  of,  I  shall  look  with 
anxiety  for  one  of  less  magnitude  and  price  ;  so  that  it  may 
go  into  the  hands  of  many  more  of  the  clergy  and  laity  than 
will  buy  it  in  its  present  more  expensive  form.  I  observed 
with  "pleasure  the  notice  of  its  intended  publication  in  Lon- 
don, and  anticipate  for  it  a  most  favorable  reception  from 
the  friends  of  evangelical  religion  both  in  and  out  of  the 
church. 

"  I  had  at  my  house,  last  evening,  a  young  clergyman 
who  has  spent  some  time  in  England.  He.  was  introduced 
to  Mr.  Newman,  with  whose  personal  conversation,  which 
he  says  was  not  at  all  polemical,  he  was  much  pleased ;  as 
he  w^as  with  that  also  of  one  or  two  others  of  the  party. 
He  says,  the  great  majority  at  Oxford  are  decided  rejecters 
of  Puseyism,  and  feel  indignant  that  his  system  should  any- 
where be  supposed  to  meet  the  approval  of  the  university, 
whose  stamp  it  is,  by  some,  thought  to  bear. 

"  I  had  been  apprized  of  the  subject  of  your  letter  of  the 


454  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

4th  instant,  by  one  received  some  time  before  from  Dr.  Spar- 
row, and  have  in  vain  been  looking  round  for  some  one  v^ho 
could  satisfactorily  fill  his  place.  You  may  be  assured  that 
I  shall  have  a  very  high  regard  to  your  approval,  and  shall 
never  propose  to  the  board  of  trustees  one  whom  I  do  not 
previously  know  to  be  agreeable  to  you ;  harmony  of  views 
between  the  head  of  the  theological  seminary  and  its  pro- 
fessors being  of  the  utmost  importance.  The  portraiture 
which  you  have  drawn  of  the  man  whom  you  would  prefer, 
I  very  much  hke  ;  while  I  have  great  fears  lest,  in  our  lim- 
ited circle  of  candidates,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  find  one  in 
whom  all  its  lineaments  are  blended.  I  shall  at  all  times 
be  glad  to  receive  from  you  any  intimation  as  to  your  wishes ; 
being,  as  ever, 

"  Your  affectionate  brother  in  Christ, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

"New  York,  March  16,  1841. 

"  Right  Eev.  and  dear  Bishop — Immediately  on  receiv- 
ing your  request  in  relation  to  the  republication  here  of  your 

work  on  the  Oxford  divinity,  I  called  on  the  Messrs. , 

but  found  they  had  just  completed  an  arrangement  for  be- 
coming the  agents  of  others  for  publishing,  or  to  publish  on 
their  own  account,  the  various  books  issued  at  Oxford.  I 
then  called  on  another  firm,  but  they  also  declined  on  the 
score  of  their  present  responsibilities.  I  have  since  conversed 
with  one  or  two  others  ;  but  the  fact  is,  that  the  disastrous 
state  of  the  times  creates,  for  the  present,  insuperable  diffi- 
culties ill  the  way  of  almost  every  enterprise.  A  cheap 
edition  of  your  book,  however,  ought  to  be  out  soon ;  and  I 
hope  you  will  be  able  to  fall  on  some  plan  by  which  it  may 
be  accomplished. 

"  May  I  ask  what  you  think  of  the  '  Bishop  of  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  church  in  the  diocese  of  Maryland,'  laying 
aside  this  his  appropriate  title,  and  styling  himself  in  his 
ojjicial  papers,  '  Bishop  of  Maryland/  and  certifying  the 
administration  of  confirmation  '  conformably  with  the  godly 


HIS  MINISTRY.  455 

order  and  administration  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Christ 
in  these  United  States  of  America  ?'  Though  I  well  under- 
stand the  grounds  on  which  this  change  of  title  is  defended, 
and  though  something  of  the  same  kind  has  been  attempted 
in  the  convention  of  our  own  diocese,  yet  I  lament  it  as,  in 
truth,  another  attempt  to  get  rid  of  the  idea,  so  odious  to 
Oxfordism,  of  ^otesting  against  the  Romish  church.  It  is 
another  branch  of  the  vine  of  Puseyism. 

"  I  have  never  been  able  to  obtain  the  number  of  the 

to  which  you  have  referred  me,  and  of  course  am  unacquaint- 
ed with  the  exact  nature  of  its  assault  upon  you,  though  ] 
readily  infer  from  your  letters  that  it  was  of  a  most  offensive 
character.  The  position  in  which  the  editor  has  placed  you, 
by  a  singular  disregard  of  common  courtesy  between  man 
and  man,  independent  of  your  official  claims  on  his  respect, 
together  with  the  waiver  of  responsibility  on  the  part  of  his 
diocesan,  after  what  I  think  should  be  considered  its  official 
assumption,  makes  the  case  not  a  little  difficult.  As  to  the 
suggested  appeal  to  the  New  York  Standing  Committee,  I 
am  persuaded  it  would  be  worse  than  useless.  They  would, 
I  have  no  doubt,  either  decline  interference,  or  decide  the 
matter  entirely  on  party  grounds.  I  am  also  sorry,  in  refer- 
ence to  another  suggestion,  to  express  a  very  repugnant  feel- 
ing towards  any  interference  whatever  with  the  religious 
press  on  the  part  of  the  General  Convention.  It  could  as- 
sume no  shape  that  would  not  be  alarming  to  the  minds  of 
many.  I  confess,  I  should  myself  feel  as  sensitive  in  regard 
to  any  prescribed  restrictions  on  the  religious,  as  I  would 
with  regard  to  the  same  course,  on  the  part  of  the  general 
or  state  government,  with  the  liberty  of  the  political  press. 
In  both  cases  I  think  the  principle  should  be — unfettered 
freedom,  with  responsibility  for  its  abuse.  Editors  of  polit- 
ical and  religious  papers  should  be  alike  liable  for  libels  on 
personal  character  ;  and  your  assailant  should  be  presented, 
tried,  and  punished  for  any  unfounded  aspersions,  whether 
the  offensive  article  be  editorial,  or  published  from  a  corre- 


456  MEMOIR  OF  DU.  MILNOR. 

spondent  with  his  sanction,  especially  after  refusing  redress 
to  the  injured  party.  But  the  times  are  out  of  joint  when 
such  an  assailant  is  able  to  take  shelter  under  the  wing  of 
a  bishop,  and  when  the  appeal  for  justice  must  be  made  to 
one  who  is  a  copartner  in  the  offence,  or  will  at  least  be 
found  to  have  prejudged  its  merits  in  favor  of  his  friend  and 
favorite.  Under  such  circumstances,  I  can  conceive  of  no 
course  more  judicious  than  that  which  you  proposed,  of  pub- 
lishing the  whole  correspondence,  though  I  think  it  might 
be  best  done  in  a  pamphlet  form. 

"  Your  friend  Dr.  Gregory  has  gone  to  his  rest.  I  scarcely 
thought,  when  we  saw  him  at  Woolwich,  in  1830,  that  he 
would  be  detained  so  long  from  its  enjoyment. 

"  "We  are  passing,  at  St.  George's,  a  very  pleasant,  and 
I  hope,  profitable  Lent.  We  have  among  us  several  exercised 
minds,  and  an  unusual  interest  in  our  extra  services.  We 
have  three  every  Sunday,  and  four  during  the  week.  After 
prayers  on  Wednesday  and  Friday  mornings,  we  read  a  por- 
tion of  our  venerable  homilies,  and  have  a  lecture  on  the 
evening  of  each  of  those  days ;  besides  a  domestic  religious 
meeting  in  the  families  of  our  parishioners,  every  Monday 
evening.  Mr.  Cooke,  who  is  indefatigable  in  his  labors,  has 
also  a  Bible  class  every  Saturday  evening.  Thus,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  we  hope  to  have  some  special  evidence 
among  us  of  the  wisdom  of  the  church,  in  appointing  this 
season  oi '  protracted  meetings'  in  which  our  members  may 
be  called,  in  our  peculiarly  solemn  services,  to  an  awakened 
attention  to  the  things  that  belong  to  their  eternal  peace. 

"  I  have  now  said  enough,  my  dear  bishop,  to  weary  your 
patience,  with  but  little  that  can  apply  to  any  practical  use  ; 
but  I  trust  in  your  goodness  to  excuse  the  garrulity  of  an 
old  man,  and  to  believe  me,  with  undiminished  regard, 
"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"  And  faithful  brother  in  Christ, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 


HIS  MINISTRY.  457 

To   the   same.         --^ 

"New  York,  July  14,  1841. 
*'  My  dear  Bishop — I  have  been  in  great  perplexity  in 
regard  to  the  professorship.  Dr.  Yaughan  has  insuperable 
objections  to  its  acceptance.  What  think  you  of  Dr.  May  ? 
I  believe  him  admirably  qualified  for  the  office,  in  point  of 
talents,  acquirements,  piety,  and  soundness  of  principles. 
His  health,  too,  seems  to  be,  in  a  considerable  degree,  re- 
stored. His  voice  is  excellent.  I  heard  him  make  one  of 
the  best  missionary  addresses  to  which  1  ever  listened,  at  the 
late  Virginia  convention.  He  is  now  at  Wilkesbarre,  and  can 
be  readily  consulted  ;  or,  if  you  approve  of  him,  and  should 
think  it  best  to  elect  him  without  previous  consultation,  you 
may  consider  this  as  my  nomination  of  him  to  the  office. 

"  I  send  you  Tract  Ninety,  m  the  Oxford  series.  You 
will  not  wonder  at  its  drawing  down  the  official  interference 
of  which  we  have  heard. 

"  Yours,  afiectionately  and  faithfully, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

The  foregoing  letters  are  introduced  together,  because 
they  were  addressed  to  the  same  correspondent,  and  apper- 
tained to  the  same  set  of  subjects.  It  will  be  sufficient  to 
add,  so  far  as  the  Milnor  professorship  was  concerned,  that 
Dr.  May  was  compelled,  by  the  serious  and  protracted  illness 
of  his  wife,  to  decline  the  nomination  which  he  received ; 
and  that  Dr.  Milnor  subsequently  nominated  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Fuller,  then  of  Christ  church,  Andover,  Mass.,  who  was 
afterwards  elected,  and  became  Dr.  Sparrow's  successor. 

Some  further  letters  for  the  year  1841,  now  require 
insertion. 

To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beasley. 

"New  York,  March  17,  1841. 

"  E.EV.  AND  DEAR  SiR — I  am  glad  you  are  so  well  pleased 
with  the  Christian  Observer,  for  which  my  own  fondness  is 
such,  that  I  hav5  long  been  in  possession  of  all  the  volumes 
in  the  series,  from  its  commencement  in  1802.     I  had  seen 

Mem,  Milnor.  20 


458  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILKOR. 

it  for  several  years  before  the  beginning  of  my  ministry. 
About  that  time,  I  happened  to  have  a  conversation  with 
the  venerable  Dr.  Wharton,  of  Burlington,  N.  J.,  who  spoke 
of  it  as  a  work  which  he  exceedingly  admired,  and  con- 
stantly read,  both  on  account  of  the  orthodoxy  of  its  views 
on  the  doctrines  of  the  church,  and  for  the  talent  with 
which  it  was  then  conducted  by  Zachary  Macauley,  Esq. 
Mr.  Macauley  was  its  editor  for  the  first  fifteen  years  of  its 
career  ;  since  which  time,  it  has  been  conducted  by  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Charles  "Wilks.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  both  these  excellent  men,  when  in  London, 
in  the  year  1830.  Mr.  Macauley  has  since  deceased.  He 
was  the  father  of  the  present  distinguished  member  of  the 
House  of  Commons  of  that  name ;  and  from  the  extensive- 
ness  of  his  reading  and  acquirements,  was  called  *  the  walk- 
ing-library.' I  think  it  Avas  Lord  Bexley  who  spoke  to  me 
of  his  astonishing  readiness  in  giving  information  on  almost 
every  subject  of  inquiry,  and  said  nothing  was  more  comijion, 
in  the  circle  of  their  acquaintance,  when  all  others  were  posed 
on  any  subject,  than  to  say,  '  We'll  ask  Zachary  Macauley ; 
he  can  tell  us.'  He  was  a  remarkably  plain,  unpromising 
man  in  his  appearance ;  but  I  can  truly  say,  I  derived  no 
such  benefit  from  any  individual  in  England  as  from  him,  hi 
the  frequent  interviews  with  which  he  was  kind  enough  to 
favor  me.  Mr.  Wilks  was  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and 
pious  of  the  clergy,  with  whom  it  was  my  privilege  to  be- 
come acquamted  ;  and  I  have  few  more  pleasing  volumes  in 
my  library  than  his  sermons,  with  which  he  presented  me, 
when  he  called  to  take  leave  of  me,  the  day  I  left  London. 

"It  is  astonishing  to  what  an  extent  high-church  prin- 
ciples are  now  carried.  It  was  remarked  to  me,  by  the  late 
Bishop  of  Cluebec,"  Bishop  Stewart,  "  on  one  of  his  passages 
through  this  city,  on  his  way  to  England,  that  he  heard 
more  about  them  in  a  three  days'  sojourn  in  New  York,  than 
in  a  year's  residence  in  London ;  and  the  late  venerable 
Bishop  of  Peunsvlvania,  thongh  a  strict  oburohman,  often 


HIS   MINISTRY.  459 

spoke  to  me,  in  terms  of  still  stronger  disapprobation,  of  the 
extravagant  views  of  some  w^ith  v\^hom  he  acted,  than  he 
has  done  in  his  published  w^orks.  The  effects  of  certain 
influences  in  our  General  Seminary  are  very  deleterious  on 
the  unformed  minds  of  its  students.  The  disapproval  of 
extreme  view^s,  by  two  of  the  resident  professors,  has  but 
little  effect  in  preventing  those  views  from  being  embraced 
by  the  young  men,  under  the  more  direct  instruction  of 
others  ;  and  our  ecclesiastical  paper,  by  flattering  them  with 
the  reception  of  their  productions,  and  with  compliments 
from  its  editor,  has  a  most  injurious  effect  on  their  minds, 
Narrowness  of  feeling,  and  illiberality  of  opinion,  in  relation 
to  Christians  of  other  names,  are  not  its  only  bad  effects. 
Its  influence  in  inducing,  if  not  in  some  instances  the  rejec- 
tion, at  least  a  diminished  esteem  of  those  evangelical  doc- 
trines which  are  now  the  continual  subjects  of  assault  from 
the  Oxford  divines,  and  the  substitution  of  the  new  system 
exhibited  in  the  '  Tracts  for  the  Times,'  is  calculated  to  give 
a  most  dangerous  character  to  the  ministry  of  these  the 
future  standard-bearers  of  our  church.  For  one,  I  sincerely 
rejoice  that  your  veteran  pen  has  been  so  successfully  em- 
ployed in  exposing  the  true  character  of  the  new  divinity ; 
and  I  am  encouraged  to  hope,  that  though  the  enemy  is 
coming  in  like  a  flood,  yet  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  will  con- 
tinue to  lift  up  a  standard  against  him. 

"  What  the  expectations  of  Rome  are,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  oft-repeated  expressions  of  approval  of  the  Oxford 
measures,  with  which  the  Romish  publications  teem.  In 
the  English  Catholic  Magazine  for  1839,  its  editors  thus 
express  themselves  :  '  Most  sincerely  and  unaflectingly  do  we 
tender  our  congratulations  to  our  brethren  of  Oxford,  that 
their  eyes  have  been  opened  to  the  evils  of  private  judg- 
ment, and  the  consequent  necessity  of  curbing  its  multiform 
extravagance.  It  has  been  given  them  to  see  the  dangers 
of  the  ever-shifting  sands  of  the  desert,  in  which  they  were 
lately  dwelling,  and  to  strike  their  tents  and  flee  the  perils 


460  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

of  the  wilderness.  They  have  already  advanced  a  great 
way  on  their  return  towards  that  church  within  whose  walls 
the  wildest  imagination  is  struck  with  awe,  and  sobered 
down  into  a  holy  calm,  in  the  enjoyment  of  which  it  gladly 
folds  its  wearied  wings.  They  have  found  the  clue  which, 
if  they  have  perseverance  to  follow  it,  will  lead  them  safely 
through  the  labyrinth  of  error  into  the  clear  day  of  truth. 
Some  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  their  church  have  advo- 
cated a  reunion  with  the  church  of  all  times  and  all  lands ; 
and  the  accomplishment  of  the  design,  if  we  have  read 
aright  '  the  signs  of  the  times,'  is  fast  ripening.  Her  mater- 
nal arms  are  ever  open  to  receive  back  repentant  cliildren ; 
and,  as  when  the  prodigal  son  returned  to  his  father's  house, 
the  fatted  calf  was  killed  and  a  great  feast  of  joy  made,  even 
so  will  the  whole  of  Christendom  rejoice  greatly,  when  so 
bright  a  body  of  learned  and  pious  men  as  the  authors  of 
the  '  Tracts  for  the  Times '  shall  have  made  the  one  step 
necessary  to  place  them  again  within  that  sanctuary,  where 
alone  they  can  be  safe  from  the  moving  sands,  beneath  which 
they  dread  being  overwhelmed.  The  consideration  of  this 
step  will  soon  inevitably  come  on ;  and  it  is  with  the  utmost 
confidence  that  we  predict  the  accession  to  our  ranks  of  the 
entire  mass.' 

"  I  trust,  my  dear  sir,  that  though  your  impaired  health 
may  continue  to  abstract  you  from  much  engagement  in  the 
public  duties  of  the  ministry,  yet  you  may  realize  to  better 
efloct  than  he  did  by  whom  the  acknowledgment  was  utter- 
ed, *  Deus  nobis  liazc  otia  fecit ;'  a  leisure  given,  in  your 
case,  not  for  the  purpose  of  indolence  or  self-indulgence,  but 
to  enable  you,  from  the  stores  of  a  matured  and  well-culti- 
vated mind,  to  assist  in  healing  some  of  the  wounds  which 
religion  and  the  church  are  now  receiving  from  those  who 
profess  to  be  the  chief,  if  not  the  exclusive  friends  of  both. 
"  T  am,  with  great  respect, 

"  Your  faithful  friend  and  brother, 

"JAMES  MILNCR." 


HIS  MINISTRY.  461 

During  the  spring  of  this  year,  he  visited  Alexandria  to 
attend  the  meeting  of  the  Virginia  convention ;  intending  to 
return  to  New  York  in  company  with  his  friend  Bishop 
Meade,  who  had  made  arrangements  for  a  voyage  to  Eng- 
land by  the  steamer  from  Boston  of  the  first  of  June.  Tlie 
following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Milnor,  written 
while  he  was  at  Alexandria,  and  dated  May  21,  1841. 

"  Yesterday  morning,  Thursday,  I  preached  before  the 
bishops  and  convention  to  an  overflowing  audience,  and  last 
night,  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  church,  kindly  oflered  for 
the  use  of  the  Episcopalians  ;  the  two  churches  of  our  order 
being  insufficient  to  accommodate  the  immense  crowds  that 
fill  the  city.  The  hospitality  of  the  citizens  is  unbounded. 
Every  house  of  Episcopalians,  and  those  of  many  others,  are 
filled  with  strangers."  [Such,  at  that  period,  were  Yirginia 
conventions.! 

The  following,  from  his  "sold  friend"  Darwel  Wilson,  re- 
minds us  how  much  these  memoirs  have  suflered  from  the 
elevation  of  that  faithful  servant  of  Christ  to  the  see  of  Cal- 
cutta. Many  of  Dr.  Milnor's  most  valuable  letters  were 
addressed  to  him,  but  their  removal,  with  his  other  papers, 
to  India,  has  rendered  their  recovery  for  our  purpose  impos- 
sible. 

To  the  Hev.  Dr.  Milnor. 

"Bishop's  Palace,  Calcutta,  Sept.  16,  1841. 
*'  My  dearest  old  Friend — I  see  an  old  letter  of  yours 
on  my  table  which  does  not  appear  to  have  been  answered, 
I  suppose  from  a  dread  of  your  again  letting  parts  of  the 
answer  slip  into  the  newspapers.  I  am,  however,  unwill- 
ing longer  to  delay  inquiring  after  you  and  yours  and  the 
church  of  Christ  in  the  United  States.  Your  Episcopal 
church  has  produced  one  of  the  most  splendid  and  valuable 
works  in  divinity  that  I  have  ever  read.  Nothing  since  your 
Jonathan  Edwards  on  Justification  and  Dean  Milner's  His- 
tory of  Luther,  has  at  all  come  near  Bishop  McIlvaine.  I 
have  read  his  masterly  treatise  v/ith  unmixed  admiration, 


462  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

and  shall  write  to  him,  I  hope  by  this  very  mail,  to  thank 
him  most  cordially.  A  twilight  sermon  of  my  own  happened 
to  come  out  just  before  the  bishop's  book,  but  was  lost  in  his 
brilliancy.  I  want  very  much  to  see  your  Episcopal  alma- 
nacs, convention  papers,  and  chief  works  in  divinity.  If  you 
produce  a  few  such  theological  refutations  as  Bishop  Mcll- 
vaine's,  your  country  will  rise  most  rapidly  in  religious  influ- 
ence. I  hope  our  mad  traditionisls  are  not  coiTupting  the 
simplicity  of  the  faith  among  you,  as  they  are  at  home,  and 
in  some  degree  in  India.  I  have  an  instinctive  dread  of  this 
MAN  OF  SIN  under  the  guise  of  an  angel  of  light,  and  his 
mystic  piety  makes  no  impression  on  my  heart.  I  have 
again  and  again  wished  to  know  why  you  inundate  India 
with  Presbyterian  missionaries,  but  do  not  refresh  us  with 
even  a  sprinkling  of  Episcopalians.  There  is  nothing  I 
should  so  rejoice  in  as  to  welcome  such  staid,  learned,  well- 
read,  evangelical  laborers  as  your  church  would  furnish. 

"  "Well,  and  how  are  you  yourself,  my  dear  friend  ?  How 
well  do  I  remember  the  pleasant  times  we  spent  together 
at  Islington.  My  son  is  laboring  there  still,  with  twenty 
helpers,  amid  56,000  souls.  I  contirme,  thank  God,  in  good 
health  for  my  years.  The  cause  of  Christ,  as  I  hope,  is 
making  progress.  The  events  of  the  world  are  conspiring  to 
widen  the  British  territory  and  influence.  Soon  will  the  end 
come  ;  and  may  we  stand  in  our  lot  at  the  end  of  the  days. 
"  I  am  yours,  alTectionately, 

"D.CALCUTTA." 

The  year  1842  will  not  furnish  us  with  so  many  letters 
as  its  immediate  predecessor.  From  three  brief  communica- 
tions addressed  to  Dr.  Milnor,  we  learn  that  he  was  during 
the  year  elected  one  of  the  Counsellors  of  the  Board  of  the 
New  York  Lyceum  ;  a  member  of  the  Council  of  tlie  Uni- 
versity of  New  York ;  and  President  of  the  New  York  City 
Tract  Society,  one  of  the  efficient  auxiliaries  of  the  American 
Tract  Society.  The  first  and  only  letter /rawi  him,  for  1842, 
is  a  co2jy  of  his  answer  to  that  just  given  from  the  Bishop  of 


HIS  MINISTllY.  463 

Calcutta  ;  and  this  the  only  copy  found' among  his  papers, 
of  all  his  letters  to  that  interesting  correspondent. 

"New  York,  July  2,  1842. 

"  Eight  Rev.  and  Beloved — In  the  recent  receipt  of 
your  esteemed  letter  of  September  last,  I  was  much  delight- 
ed to  be  once  more  favored  with  a  token  of  your  continued 
remembrance  and  regard.  That  your  valuable  life  should 
have  been  preserved  for  a  period  so  much  longer  than  that 
of  any  of  your  revered  predecessors  in  the  Calcutta  episco- 
pate, and  that  your  health  should  be  continued  in  a  climate 
which  so  often  proves  unfavorable  to  Englishmen,  are  causes 
of  devout  thankfulness  to  God,  and  should  be  gratefully  rec- 
ognized as  a  pledge,  that  he  has  large  blessings  in  store  for 
his  church  in  those  distant  regions.  We  have  heard,  with 
great  joy,  of  the  mighty  work  of  grace  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  accomplishing  through  British  agency  in  some  places  under 
your  jurisdiction.  May  the  Lord  encourage  your  labors,  by 
many  such  cheering  evidences  of  his  favor. 

"  You  inquire,  my  Et.  Eev.  friend,  why  we  do  not  send 
some  Episcopal  missionaries  to  India.  The  answer  is  as  easily 
given  as  the  fact  furnishing  that  answer  is  by  many  of  us  feel- 
ingly regretted.  All  the  efforts  of  such  of  our  highly  esteemed 
bishops  as  are  favorable  to  the  cause  of  foreign  missions — and 
they  are  a  large  proportion  of  the  whole — and  of  such  of  our 
clergy  as  have  like  feelings,  have  not  yet  been  successful  in 
awakening  such  a  spirit  among  us  as  adequately  to  supply  our 
treasury  for  so  desirable  an  extension  of  our  missionary  work. 
I  have  been  laboring  in  this  cause  for  five  or  six  and  twenty 
years,  and  though,  God  be  praised,  there  has  been  much  im- 
provement in  our  church,  especially  during  the  last  six  or 
seven  years,  under  our  new  plan  of  operation,  yet  we  have 
still  to  encounter  much  opposition  from  certain  influential 
quarters,  to  the  foreign  work ;  and  our  means,  partly  from 
this  cause,  and  partly  from  the  sad  state  of  the  monetary  con- 
cerns of  our  country,  have  allowed  us  to  extend  but  little  the 


464  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

existing  missions,  and  compelled  us  to  withhold  the  establish- 
ment of  any  entirely  new.  One  missionary  at  Constantino- 
ple, having  in  prospect  some  endeavors  in  favor  of  the  Syrian 
church;  our  schools  in  Athens,  and  a  small  establishment  in 
Crete ;  a  single  but  excellent  missionary  in  China ;  four  or  five 
clergymen  and  their  families  at  Cape  Palmas,  on  the  western 
coast  of  Africa ;  and  two  missionaries  in  Texas,  comprise  all 
the  heralds  of  salvation  that  our  church  has  given  us  the 
means  of  sending  forth,  either  for  the  renovation  of  corrupt 
Christian  communities,  or  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen. 
Several  of  the  other  denominations  around  us  have  far  out- 
stripped us  in  obedience  to  the  Saviour's  command. 

"There  is  undoubtedly,  as  you  are  aware,  a  vast  extent 
of  missionary  ground  in  our  own  country,  which  many — I 
think  mistakingly — consider  a  sufficient  reason  for  confining 
ourselves  exclusively  to  its  cultivation.  I  say  '  mistakingly,' 
for  I  have  invariably  observed,  that  those  who  advocate  this 
principle  are,  even  in  their  contributions  to  the  domestic  de- 
partment, far  behind  those  who  consider  the  field  marked  out 
for  our  exertions  by  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  to  be  the 
whole  world.  Just  in  proportion  to  the  prevalence  of  vital 
piety  in  our  congregations,  is  the  missionary  spirit  seen  to 
take  this  wide-extended  scope  ;  and  an  amount  of  contribu- 
tions of  a  corresponding  character,  to  be  poured  into  the  treas- 
ury of  the  Lord.  While  the  increase  of  this  spirit  among 
us  is  a  continual  subject  for  ardent  prayer  and  supplication, 
I  do  exceedingly  rejoice  in  the  hope  that  the  noble  Church 
Missionary  Society  of  your  country,  under  its  new  auspices, 
may  be  favored  with  such  an  increase  of  means  as  will  sup- 
ply our  lack  of  service  in  the  foreign  field,  so  many  parts  of 
which  have  been  already  blessed  by  the  evangelical  labors 
of  that  inestimable  institution. 

"Your  warm  approval  of  the  work  of  our  dear  friend 
Bishop  Mcllvaine,  is  exceedingly  grateful  to  my  feelings,  as 
it  will  be  to  his.  I  am  quite  confident,  there  is  no  one  whoso 
favorable  opinion  he  would  more  highly  appreciate  than  your 


HIS  MINISTRY.  465 

own.  His  public  testimony  against  Oxfordism,  supported 
as  it  has  been  by  a  large  proportion  of  his  Episcopal  breth- 
ren in  this  country,  has  had  a  very  propitious  influence  on 
the  public  mind. 

"  It  is  an  evidence  of  the  limited  circulation  of  the 
'Tracts'  among  our  churches,  that  there  has  been  but  one 
American  edition  of  them,  and  that  this  resulted  in  the  ruin 
of  its  publisher.  Out  of  ten  or  eleven  Episcopal  periodicals, 
the  Churchman  is  the  only  one  that  has  advocated  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  authors  of  those  pernicious  publications.  May 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  lift  up  a  standard  everywhere  against 
the  errors  of  these  misguided  and  misguiding  teachers,  and 
lead  even  themselves,  at  length,  into  the  way  of  truth. 

"  In  regard  to  the  general  state  of  the  church  in  our 
country,  I  thank  God  that  I  am  enabled  to  say,  it  is,  in  its 
external  circumstances,  prosperous  ;  and,  in  doctrinal  views 
and  evangelical  feeling,  improving.  With  our  rapidly  grow- 
ing population,  its  extension  keeps  tolerably  equal  pace  ;  and 
the  divisions  in  some  Protestant  denominations  have  tended 
to  add  to  our  numbers.  To  a  much  greater  extent  than 
formerly,  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  are  preached 
to  our  congregations  ;  and  though  in  some  places,  what  are 
called  the  distinctive  principles  of  the  church  are,  in  my 
view,  suflered  to  occupy  too  much  attention,  yet,  for  the 
most  part,  I  believe  the  latter  are  allowed  only  their  just 
place  in  the  communications  of  the  pulpit.  A  few  of  our 
ministers  are  disposed  to  keep  up  a  spirit  of  controversy,  and 
to  decry  what  they  call  low-churchmanship  ;  but  on  the 
whole,  there  is  a  preference  for  the  things  that  make  for 
peace.  None  are  disposed  unduly  to  compromise  our  pecu- 
liarities by  ifiadmissible  mixtures  with  others  in  the  services 
of  the  sanctuary  ;  and  our  church  commends  herself  to  the 
regards  of  those  who  are  Avithout,  by  maintaining  towards 
them  '  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.'  "  [Very 
serious  would  have  been  his  modifications  of  this  portion  of 
his  letter,  had  he  lived  till  the  present  day.] 


46G  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

"Romanism,  however,  among  us  is  making  rapid  strides. 
Immense  numbers  of  immigrants  are  almost  daily  landing  on 
our  shores.  Of  these  the  major  part  are  from  Ireland,  and 
almost  all  of  that  church ;  as  are  also  multitudes  from  the 
German  states.  Large  importations  of  priests  are  constantly 
arriving ;  and  the  popish  missionary  societies  of  Italy,  Austria, 
and  France,  are  pouring  their  thousands  annually  into  the 
country  for  the  building  of  churches  and  the  support  of  the 
priesthood.  When  I  came  to  my  present  charge  in  1816, 
there  were  but  two  Homan  Catholic  churches  in  New  York. 
Now  there  are  many,  and  several  in  a  course  of  erection. 
There  is  evidently  a  grand  effort  also  to  acquire  a  foothold  in 
our  great  western  country,  throughout  which  popish  semhia- 
ries  of  learning  abound,  and  are  continually  increasing  in  num- 
ber.   Many  Protestant  children  are  improperly  sent  to  them. 

"  And  now,  to  answer  your  kind  inquiries  in  relation  to 
myself:  I  can  only  say,  that  I  continue,  at  the  age  of  nearly 
three-score  years  and  ten,  through  the  blessing  of  my  heav- 
enly Father,  to  enjoy  excellent  health.  My  duties  are  the 
same  as  heretofore.  I  enjoy  the  continued  affections  of  a 
large  congregation ;  and  my  labors  among  them  are,  from 
time  to  time,  followed  by  pleasing  fruits.  I  find  time,  m 
the  midst  of  arduous  parochial  duties,  for  an  engagement  in 
the  missionary,  educational,  and  other  institutions  of  our 
church ;  and  am  still  actively  employed  in  the  Bible,  Tract, 
and  Missionary  causes,  and  in  various  other  means  of  pubUo 
usefulness.  I  have  five  children ;  a  son  and  a  daughter 
married  ;  and  with  two  sweet  grandchildren,  these  are  all 
residing  with  me  in  St.  George's  parsonage. 

"  I  have  the  pleasure  of  transmitting  to  you  a  package, 
containing  such  publications  as  I  supposed  might  interest 
you ;    and  beg  you  to  accept  the  assurance  of  that  high 
respect  and  sincere  affection  with  wliich  I  remain, 
"  Your  faithful  friend, 

"  And  obedient  servant  in  the  Lord, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 


HIS  MINISTRY.  467 

At  the  opening  of  tlie  year  1843,  Bt.  Miiiior  received 
from  his  friend  Bishop  Meade  a  letter,  the  following  extract 
from  which  will  serve  to  introduce  a  remark  touching  a  part 
of  his'  course  as  one  of  the  members  of  the  Foreign  Com- 
mittee of  our  Board  of  Missions. 


To  the  Rev.   Dr.  Milnor. 

"Millwood,  Jan.  30,  1843. 

"  Rev.  and  dear  Brotiiepc — Besides  the  sincere  pleasure 
which  I  take  in  communicating  with  you  on  all  subjects  per- 
taining to  the  affairs  of  God's  church,  I  have  a  particular 
object  in  addressing  you  at  this  time.  I  perceive  there  have 
been  letters,  pro  and  con.,  as  to  our  missionary  establishments 
in  Greece  and  Asia,  especially  the  latter ;  and  fears  have 
been  expressed,  that  we  are  not  presenting  there,  as  we  ought, 
the  pure  gospel,  but  are  conceding  too  much  to  prevalent 
corruptions.  I  am  told  that  the  cause  has  sufiered  in  this 
country  by  reason  of  such  apprehension  ;  and  that  the  com- 
mittee have  not  been  altogether  satisfied  for  some  time. 
How  is  it  ?  I  have  always  thought  that  the  attempt  to 
introduce  our  missionaries  into  those  old,  decayed  churches, 
was  so  delicate  and  difficult  a  task,  that  we  must  be  slow 
to  condemn  those  missionaries  for  any  cautious  movements 
which  they  might  make.  But  have  they  erred  ?  And  if 
so,  how  far  ?  And  have  the  doubts  on  this  subject  seriously 
injured  our  collections  for  these  missions  ?  I  should  be  glad 
to  hear  from  you  on  this  subject,  and  on  any  others  in  which 
you  know  I  am  interested. 

"If  it  be  permitted  to  descend  from  such  a  height  to 
speak  a  word  about  myself  and  my  poor  body,  and  you  feel 
any  interest  in  it,  I  would  say  that  God  has  been  very  good 
in  giving  me  a  more  comfortable  state  of  health  than  I  have 
had  for  nine  years.  My  chief  defect,  that  of  voice,  still  re- 
mains ;  but  it  is  in  some  measure  relieved  by  preaching  very 
seldom,  and  contenting  myself  with  official  duties  and  short 
addresses  from  the  chancel.     My  mind  also  is  much  relieved 


4G3  MEMOIE  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

Ly  having  so  valuable  an  assistant  as  Dr.  Johns,  who  is 

giving  great  satisfaction. 

"Let  me  hear  from  you  as  soon  as  convenient. 

"  Affectionately, 

"W.  MEADE." 

What  ansvver  Dr.  Milnor  gave  to  the  former  part  of  the 
above  extract  is  unknown.  Not  so,  however,  his  opinion  on 
the  subject  involved.  In  common  with  his  fellow-members 
of  the  Foreign  Committee,  he  inclined  to  that  judgment 
which  finally  expressed  itself  in  the  well-known  unwilling- 
ness of  the  committee  to  sustain  the  Asiatic,  or  Constanti- 
nopolitan  mission  of  our  church.  He  advocated,  as  long  as 
he  could,  the  continuance  of  that  mission ;  and  acquiesced 
in  its  continuance  as  long  as  he  could,  even  after  his  judg- 
ment began  to  lean  to  the  side  of  its  inexpediency.  But 
the  views  which  the  missionary  himself  advanced,  and  the 
measures  which  he  adopted,  at  length  settled  the  mind  of 
Dr.  Milnor,  and  he  gave  his  influence  to  that  action  of  the 
committee  which,  since  he  left  the  stage,  has  resulted  in 
placing  the  mission  on  a  separate  basis  of  its  own.  It  is 
true,  that  the  want  of  funds  was  the  reason  at  first  assigned 
for  the  proposed  abandonment  of  the  mission ;  but  it  is  no 
less  true,  that  this  want  of  funds  was,  by  multitudes,  be- 
lieved to  be  the  consequence  of  a  want  of  confidence  in  the 
views  which  actuated  the  movement  at  Constantinople  ;  and 
in  this  belief  the  Foreign  Committee  almost  unanimously 
concurred. 

To   Bishop   Mcllvaine. 

"New  York,  March  10,  1843. 

"My  dear  Bishop — I  am  under  the  impression  that  I 
have  answered  your  two  favors  of  last  year ;  or  rather,  I 
liavc  been  under  that  impression.  But  I  am  startled,  on 
laying  my  hand  upon  them  to-day,  to  find  no  endorsement 
to  that  effect ;  and  therefore  I  now  fear  that  I  have  been 
mistaken,  and  that  I  must  submit  to  the  charge  of  inexcusa- 
ble negligence.     In  regard  to  all  that  relates  to  the  profes- 


HIS  MINISTRY.  469 

Eorship,  I  am  glad  to  learn,  by  a  letter  frOte  Dr.  Fuller,  that 
he  has  accepted  the  appointment.  I  entirely  approve  of 
your  choice,  and  hope  you  and  he  may  have  much  happi- 
ness in  the  connection. 

"  Of  the  prosperity  of  the  college  in  its  *  students,  study, 
order,  and  reputation,'  I  am  glad  to  hear,  but  regret  the 
pecuniary  difficulties  in  which  it  is  involved.  I  wish  it  were 
in  New  York  as  in  times  past,  so  that  you  might  receive 
help  from  your  old  partial  means  of  supply  ;  but  every  thing 
here,  in  the  way  of  business,  seems  at  a  stand ;  and  many 
of  the  friends  of  Kenyon,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  have  just 
emerged  from  the  painful  process  of  bankruptcy,  while 
others  are,  as  to  means,  in  quite  a  different  position  from 
that  which  they  once  occupied.  Almost  all  my  rich  men 
have  gone  to  the  court  end  of  the  city,  or  remam  with  us 
in  cramped  and  impaired  circumstances.  I  exceedingly 
regret  that  among  your  Brooklyn  friends,  too,  so  many  have 
fallen  under  the  weight  of  the  pressure  which  has  come 
upon  them.  On  both  sides  of  the  river,  however,  some  still 
hold  their  own. 

"It  is  intended  to  hold  a  semi-annual  meeting  of  the 
American  Bible  Society  at  Cincinnati,  in  October  next.  We 
shall  be  glad  to  have  your  approval  of  the  measure,  and 
your  important  assistance  at  the  meeting. 

"  Respectfully,  affectionately,  and  truly,  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 
To   the   Rev.  Dr.   Milnor. 

•'Gambier,  April  6,  1343. 

*'  Dear  Doctor — I  have  no  letter-paper,  and  cannot  get 
any  till  somebody  brings  some  from  New  York ;  but  I  shall 
not  impose  on.  you  a  whole  sheet  of  foolscap.  So  you  re- 
membered, at  last,  to  answer  my  letters,  after  I  had  forgot- 
ten they  had  been  written.     Better  late  than  never. 

"  You  speak  of  a  semi-annual  Bible  Society  meeting  at 
Cincinnati.  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  do  what  I  can  to  pro- 
mote its  usefulness.     It  is  a  good  idea.     The  Episcopal  clergy 


470  MEMOIR  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

in  Cincinnati,  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  all  in  the  diocese,  with 
one  or  two  exceptions,  will  unite  in  heart,  if  not  in  personal 
attendance.  The  more  the  Romish  doctrine  of  tradition 
lifts  up  its  head,  the  more  we  must  lift  up  our  standard 
against  it  in  the  shape  of  the  Bible,  distributed  as  Bible 
societies  do  their  work.  It  is  David  against  Goliath — the 
sling  against  the  helmet,  and  shield,  and  spear  of  a  giant. 
But  the  difference  is,  that  God  is  on  one  side,  and  not  on  the 
other ;  and  the  truth  shall  make  men  free,  no  matter  whose 
servants  they  may  have  been. 

"  Yours,  very  affectionately, 

'^CHAS.  P.  McILVAINE." 

The  spring  of  1 843  found  Dr.  Milnor  again  at  the  an- 
nual convention  of  the  diocese  of  our  church  in  Virginia,  in 
the  city  of  Richmond,  and  as  usual,  abundant  in  his  pulpit- 
labors  during  his  absence.  Like  all  his  visits  of  this  kind, 
however,  it  has  no  record,  save  in  the  customary  brief  letter 
to  Mrs.  Milnor,  informing  her  of  his  movements,  his  engage- 
ments, and  the  day  of  his  expected  return.  The  only  addi- 
tional reference  to  the  period  is  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Brigham, 
of  the  American  Bible  Society,  from  which  it  appears  that 
Dr.  Milnor  was  duly  appointed  to  represent  that  mstitution 
before  the  Bible-meeting  in  Richmond,  held  concurrently 
with  that  of  the  Virginia  convention. 

During  this  same  spring  was  most  deeply  felt  the  alarm 
which  the  measures  of  the  Maryland  State  Colonization 
Society,  in  enforcing  tnilitary  duty,  or  military  fines,  on  all 
within  their  colony,  had  previously  spread  through  those 
churches  at  home  which  had  established  missionary  stations 
on  that  part  of  the  African  coast — an  alarm  which,  for  a 
time,  threatened  to  set  the  Christian  community  of  the  free 
states  in  hostile  array  against  the  whole  cause  of  African 
colonization. 

Fears  were  entertained,  that  it  would  become  necessary 
to  remove  our  mission  from  Cape  Palmas.  Our  Board  of 
Missions  therefore  instructed  its  foreign  committee  to  propose 


HIS  MINISTRY.  471 

conferences  with  the  Maryland  State  Colonization  Society  at 
Baltimore,  with  a  view  to  the  possible  settlement  of  ami- 
cable relations  between  that  society  and  the  board.  In  pur- 
suance of  this  policy,  the  foreign  committee  referred  the 
instructions  of  the  board  to  a  special  committee  of  two  of 
its  members,  who,  after  a  previous  conference,  conducted  on 
our  part  by  the  secretary,  the  E.ev.  Dr.  Yaughan,  and  one 
of  the  missionaries,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Payne,  were  directed  to 
proceed  to  Baltimore  for  the  purpose  of  a  further  interview 
and  a  more  satisfactory  understanding  with  the  agent  of  the 
State  Colonization  Society.  This  special  committee  was 
composed  of  the  Rev.  Drs.  Milnor  and  Turner  ;  and  from  a 
letter  which  the  former  received  at  Baltimore,  it  would 
seem  that  they  held  the  further  conference  required  during 
his  spring  excursion  to  the  South.  The  main  results  of  these 
negotiations  was,  the  undisturbed  continuance  of  our  Cape 
Palmas  mission. 

The  summer  of  this  year  was  rendered  memorable  in  the 
annals  of  our  church  by  the  occurrence,  soon  after  the  annual 
Commencement  of  our  General  Theological  Seminary,  of  the 
famous  "  Carey  ordination,"  an  event  at  which  Drs.  Anthoii 
and  Smith  protested  against  the  admission  to  deacon's  orders 
of  a  recent  graduate  from  the  seminary,  who  had  exposed 
himself  to  the  charge  of  holding  the  Tridentine  doctrines  of 
the  church  of  Rome.  The  convulsion  which  shook  our 
church  upon  the  announcement  of  this  ordination,  was  alto- 
gether unprecedented.  Dr.  Milnor's  letters  to  his  corre- 
spondents on  this  occasion,  have  mostly  perished ;  but  one, 
from  his  old  friend  Bishop  Meade,  will  serve  as  an  early 
expression  of  those  feelings,  among  the  evangehcal  portion  of 
the  church,  in  which  Dr.  Milnor  fully  shared. 

To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor. 

"Millwood,  Aug.  1,  1843. 
**  Rev.  and  dear  Brother — We  have  fallen  upon  strange 
times.     We  have  reached  a  fearful  crisis  in  the  church.     I 


472  me:moie  of  du.  milnor. 

had  not  supposed  it  possible  that  Romanism  had  so  fax 
regained  its  power  among  us,  as  recent  events  in  your  city 
and  the  language  of  some  of  our  rehgious  papers  would  indi- 
cate. A  general  and  distressing  contest  throughout  our 
whole  church,  in  England  and  America,  seems  now  inevi- 
table. May  God  give  us  all  grace  to  perform  our  several 
parts  faithfully  and  wisely.  I  should  like  to  hear  from  you, 
who  are  on  the  spot,  how  matters  stand.  I  trust  our  breth- 
ren Anthon  and  Smith  find  strong  supporters,  not  only 
among  the  laity,  but  also  among  the  clergy  in  your  city 
From  some  New  York  papers  which  have  been  sent  me, 
probably  by  yourself,  I  perceive  the  laity  are  coming  out 
boldly.  I  hope  the  pamphlet  of  Drs.  Anthon  and  Smith  wall 
be  circulated  far  and  wide,  to  every  clergyman,  at  least,  a 
copy  ;  and  I  wish  the  laity  also  could  be  well  supphed. 

"  I  saw,  a  few  days  since,  a  talented,  zealous  layman  of 
a  neighboring  diocese,  who  has  been  very  active  in  support- 
ing ultra  views,  who  said,  after  reading  the  pamphlet,  he 
was  truly  surprised  at  it ;  and  unless  it  could  be  answered 
and  disproved — and  he  did  not  see  how  it  could — it  showed 
a  state  of  things  which  he  had  never  supposed.  The  card  of 
the  six  presbyters  will,  I  presume,  satisfy  him  that  an  answer 
and  refutation  are  not  very  probable.  I  suppose  your  ap- 
proaching convention  will,  m  some  way  or  other,  let  us  know 
its  opinion  on  the  subject.  Our  next  General  Convention 
can  scarcely  avoid  some  agitation  on  the  questions  involved. 

"  We  have  been  too  much  elated  by  our  prosperity. 
Looking  at  the  dissensions  of  other  denominations,  boasting 
of  our  unity,  and  proud  of  our  advantages,  we  calculated  oil 
uninterrupted  and  unbounded  success,  without  relying  hum- 
bly on  God's  blessing.  The  result  has  been,  that  while  the 
dissensions  of  others  are,  in  a  good  measure,  healing,  and  we 
have  contrived,  by  our  exclusive  claims,  very  greatly  to 
increase  and  combine  the  opposition  of  all  others,  we  are  in 
a  most  divided  state  among  ourselves,  and  are  under  the 
strongest  temptation  to  neglect  the  more  important  spiritual 


HIS  MINISTHr..  473 

matters  for  controversy  atout  externals.  This  is  to  me  a 
most  distressing  thought — that  bitter  controversy  is,  in  many 
of  us,  about  to  eat  out  the  soul  of  religion.  God  have  mercy 
on  us,  and  avert  the  evil. 

"  I  do  not  see  that  any  question  was  put  to  Mr.  Carey 
about  justification,  sacramental  grace,  etc. ;  on  which  points 
I  can  scarce  think  that  one,  holding  his  views  on  other  points, 
could  be  received.     Let  me  hear  from  you  soon  and  fully. 
"  Yours,  very  truly, 

"W.  MEADE." 

Another,  a  month  later,  from  Bishop  Smith,  contains  a 
characteristic  allusion  to  the  same  subject. 

"Kalorama,  near  Louisville,  Sept.  1,  1843. 

"  Dear.  Friend  of  my  early  Ministry — Brother  Jack- 
son tells  me  that  you  are  to  be  in  Cincinnati  about  the  1st 
of  November.  God  willing,  so  am  L  He  also  says,  that  he 
invited  you  to  come  and  see  me  as  well  as  him.  I  thank 
him  for  it ;  and  I  now  write  specially  to  urge  this  request, 
and  that  you  will  accompany  me  as  far  as  Shelbyville,  where 
I  will  take  you  in  our  little  carriage,  in  order  that  the  early 
friend  of  Christian  and  church  education  at  the  West  may 
see  what  God  has  enabled  us  to  begin  in  Kentucky.  So  dark 
a  cloud  has  long  brooded  over  this  horizon,  that  I  want  such 
a  friend  as  you  to  come  and  have  it  in  your  power  to  say 
that,  through  the  divine  clemency,  daylight  again  dawns 
upon  us.  Besides,  your  presence  will  give  a  new  impulse  to 
all  our  affairs.  Do  come,  kind  doctor,  do  ;  and  may  God's 
presence  come  with  you. 

"  I  was  present  with  you  in  spirit  in  blessed  old  St. 
Jolm's,  Providence,  on  that  day."  [An  allusion,  probably, 
to  the  day  of  Bishop  Henshaw's  consecration.]  "  0,  by  how 
many  cherished  memories  is  that  temple  sacred  to  me !  I 
was  witness  of  the  first  revival  of  religion  there,  and  in  Bris- 
tol. The  stripling  Henshaw  was  instrumental  in  the  revival, 
during  which — chiefly  however  among  the  Congregational- 


474  MEii;OIIl  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

ists — the  mere  boy,  Ben  Smith,  was  brought  to  serious  reflec- 
tion. Our  venerable  father,"  Bishop  Griswold,  "  is  gone ;  but 
we  his  sons  are  left  to  toil  and  suffer :  Bishop  Henshaw  in  the 
very  field  which  witnessed  his  prayers  and  his  victories,  and 
Bishop  Smith  in  a  far-off  field,  where  unheard-of  trials  have 
awaited  him.  So  God  works.  '  Even  so,  Father  ;  for  bo  it 
seemeth  good  in  thy  sight  I' 

"  I  am  not  worthy  to  unloose  the  latchet  of  Bishop  Gris- 
wold's  shoes  ;  but,  thank  God,  I  am  still  most  thoroughly  of 
his  school.  We  have  strange  wonders  in  our  days.  Some 
of  our  Episcopalians  are  half  Romanists ;  and  some  of  our 
high-churchmen  are  low,  while  some  of  the  low  are  high. 
Of  all  sorts,  hoAvever,  find  me  out  a  consistent  Bishop  Gris- 
wold, and  an  unchangeable  rector  of  old  St.  George's. 

"  These  are  storms,  the  flashes  of  which  we  see  afar  off, 
and  the  roar  whereof  faintly  reaches  us,  but  of  which  we 
know  almost  nothing.  Our  comfort  is,  that  Christ  changes 
not ;  that  his  truth  never  changes  ;  and  that  he  is  Prince  of 
the  kings  of  the  earth,  be  the  people  never  so  unquiet.  The 
church  is  safe  !     Ever,  as  of  old, 

"  Your  true  friend  and  brother, 

"B.B.SMITH." 

"The  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor." 

Dr.  Milnor's  answer  to  this  affectionate  epistle  contains 
the  only  reference  to  "  the  Carey  ordination,''  and  its  con- 
sequences, to  be  met  with  in  his  recovered  letters.  It  also 
intimates  his  inability  to  attend  the  semi-annual  Bible  Soci- 
ety meeting  at  Cincinnati,  to  which  former  letters  refer,  and 
at  which  he  had  been  appointed  to  read  an  essay  on  "  The 
Rule  of  Faith  ;"  the  design  of  the  essay  being  to  advocate 
the  Protestant  doctrine  on  that  subject,  in  opposition  to  the 
Romish  views  of  Tradition. 

To  Bishop  Smith. 

"New  York,  October  2,  1843. 
"Rt.  Rev.  and  dear  Sir — I  thank  you  sincerely  for 
rour  kind  favor  of  the  1st  ult.,  and  wish  it  were  in  my  power 


HIS  MINISTRY.  475 

to  accept  your  obliging  invitation.  But  I  find  I  am  unable 
to  comjoly  with  the  wishes  of  our  Bible  friends,  in  making 
the  proposed  visit  to  Cinciimati ;  and  consequently  must 
defer,  to  some  future  period,  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  at 
your  pleasant  residence  in  the  neighborhood  of  Louisville. 
An  unexpected  and  indispensable  journey  of  business  to  Buf- 
falo, from  which  I  returned  a  few  days  since,  forms  one  dif- 
ficulty in  the  way  of  my  leaving  home  again  this  fall.  But 
added  to  this,  I  fear,  at  my  time  of  life,  taking  so  long  a  trip 
at  such  an  advanced  season  of  the  year.  Besides,  were  I 
younger  and  better  fitted  for  it,  there  is  another  great  imped- 
iment, arising  out  of  the  pressingly  heavy  duties  of  my 
parochial  charge,  in  which,  for  the  last  nine  months,  I  have 
been  wholly  Mathout  assistance.  My  prayers  and  best  wishes 
will  attend  our  beloved  brethren  who  go  on  to  the  expected 
meeting.  I  pray  God  the  occasion  may  be  one  of  signal  ben- 
efit to  our  great  cause. 

"  We  live  in  eventful  times.  The  changes  in  opinion — 
in  too  many  instances,  as  I  think,  for  the  worse — that  are 
continually  occurring  around  us,  are  not  a  little  alarming. 
Recent  developments  here  afford  reason  to  believe,  that  to  a 
greater  extent  than  we  had  imagined,  the  Oxford  heresy  has 

invaded  this  diocese.     The  noxious  influence  of  the  — 

has  exceedingly  corrupted  the  minds  of  our  younger  clergy 
and  candidates  for  orders ;  and  indeed  I  am  grieved  to  the 
heart,  to  find  such  a  tendency  to  Romanism  as  prevails 
among  some  of  the  more  advanced  in  years  and  standing. 
When  I  speak  thus,  I  do  not  mean  that  any  are  prepared  to 
go  over  to  the  '  mother  of  abominations.'  To  remove  such  a 
suspicion,  they  call  her  hard  names,  and  speak  strongly 
against  some  of  her  doctrines.  But  the  danger  lies  in  their 
exaltation  of  the  church  above  Christ,  the  great  Head  ;  mak- 
ing her,  and  not  Him,  the  dispenser  of  renewing  and  sancti- 
fying grace,  and  giving  to  external  sacraments  and  ordinances 
the  inherent  efficacy  which  constitutes  so  much  of  the  super- 
stition of  the  papacy.     They  do  not  mean — until  a  great 


476  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

many  impediments  are  removed — to  unite  with  Rome  ;  but 
on  the  principles  of  Tract  No.  Ninety,  they  adopt,  as  the 
means  of  allaying  such  a  desire,  the  expedient  of  giving  an 
aspect  to  our  doctrines  and  observances,  that  shall  approxi- 
mate them  as  nearly  as  possible  to  hers.  The  evangelical 
doctrines  w^hich  some  of  us  have  supposed  were  plainly 
taught  in  our  articles,  more  fully  explicated  in  our  homilies, 
and  embodied  in  their  life-giving  spirit  in  our  liturg)',  are 
now  to  be  superseded  by  the  dogmas  of  the  school  at  Oxford. 
The  great  principle  of  justification  by  faith  is  by  many  virtu- 
ally abandoned,  and  that  of  baptismal  justification  adopted 
in  its  stead.  God  is  impiously  confined,  in  his  communica 
tion  of  grace,  to  the  channel  of  the  sacraments  ;  and  a  most 
unwarrantable  denial  of  covenanted  mercy  to  all  but  the 
members  of  a  church  enjoying  the  Episcopal  succession,  is 
insisted  on.  The  Reformation  is  now  found  to  have  been 
fraught  with  evils  ;  and  instead  of  adhering  to  its  great  prin- 
ciples, we  are  to  condemn  its  authors  for  having  taken  dan- 
gerous liberties,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  to  unprotestantize 
the  church.  Such,  among  us,  has  been  the  baneful  influ- 
ence of  Tractarianism,  as  upheld  and  taught  by  too  many  in 
this  most  unevangelical  portion  of  the  church.  God  grant 
that  they  may  find  successful  opponents  in  other  and  better 
instructed  dioceses,  I  confess  I  am  grieved  and  alarmed 
beyond  measure,  and  especially  since  our  convention,  which 
has  just  adjourned,  and  in  which  the  proceedings  in  the  case 
of  young  Carey  have  been  sustained  by  a  large  majority  of 
the  clergy,  and  by  an  unexpectedly  large  number  of  the  laity. 
You  will,  no  doubt,  in  the  secular  papers  of  the  past  week, 
see  the  full  details  of  our  stormy  session ;  particularly  the 
melancholy  exhibition  of  passion  on  the  part  of  our  bishop, 
near  its  close.  I  was  not  present  at  the  disgraceful  scene, 
being  engaged  in  a  quiet  lecture  to  the  good  people  of  my 
charge  ;  nor  have  1,  save  by  a  silent  vote,  taken  any  part  in 
the  proceedings  of  the  convention  :  the  speakers  on  the  side 
of  Messrs.  Smith  and  Anthon,  bemtr  all  of  them  eminent 


HIS  MINISTRY.  477 

lawyers,  and  men  who  have  not  hitherto  sustained  any  other 
character  than  that  of  avowedly  high-churchmen. 

"  Though  much  cast  down  in  spirit  by  the  opposition,  so 
extensively  prevalent,  to  what  the  Lord  has  taught  me  to 
believe  to  be  Bible-truth,  yet  I  still  have  faith  in  the  ulti- 
mate triumph  of  correct  principles.  For  one,  I  will  still 
pray,  and  labor,  and  hope  ;  and  amidst  all  discouragements, 
rejoice  that  the  Lord  reigneth.  I  feel  my  mind  greatly 
soothed  and  comforted  by  the  blessed  communion  which  we 
yesterday  enjoyed  in  '  old  St.  George's ;'  where,  at  least,  for 
the  few  remaining  years  of  the  ministry  of  its  rector,  Christ 
and  him  crucified  will,  I  trust,  continue  to  be  preached. 
Beheve  me, 

**  Affectionately,  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOU." 

The  following  is  Dr.  Milnor's  letter  to  the  secretary,  an- 
nouncing his  inability  to  attend  the  meeting  at  Cincinnati, 
and  expressive  of  his  views  on  the  occasion.  It  will  be  read 
with  interest. 

To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Brigham. 
"St.  George's  Rectory,  New  York,  Oct.  20,  1843. 
"  Uev.  and  dear  Sir — -you  may  be  assured  that  the  im- 
practicability of  my  accompanying  you  to  Cincinnati  is  to 
me  a  subject  of  most  sincere  regret.  Concurring,  as  I  did, 
heartily  in  the  expediency  of  the  interesting  measure  of  hold- 
ing a  special  meeting  of  our  noble  institution  in  that  region, 
and  having  been  honored  as  one  of  its  delegates,  in  connec- 
tion with  a  particular  duty  of  an  important  character,  my 
disappointment  is  only  alleviated  by  the  persuasion  that 
there  will  be  no  want  of  far  better  counsellors  than  myself 
in  the  general  transactions  of  your  meeting,  and  that  the 
performance  of  the  special  duty  referred  to,  by  my  learned 
and  respected  alternate,  will  aflbrd  the  assemblage  no  reason 
to  regret  my  absence,  which  I  trust  will,  by  none,  be  attrib- 
uted either  to  any  diminution  of  interest  in  the  cause,  or  re- 


478  MEMOIR  OF  BR.  MILNOR. 

luctance  in  the  most  public  manner  to  avow  my  most  ear- 
nest desires  for  its  promotion. 

"  However  small  the  measure  of  my  past  eflbrts,  the 
retrospect  of  thirty  years'  engagement  in  the  work,  twenty- 
seven  of  them  in  immediate  connection  with  the  American 
Bible  Society,  is  among  the  highest  satisfactions  of  my  now 
declining  years. 

"  It  was  under  the  auspices  and  at  the  solicitation  of  my 
late  venerable  friend  Bishop  White,  of  Pennsylvania,  that  I 
first  united,  in  my  native  city,  with  the  Bible  Society,  over 
which  he  presided  with  so  much  dignity  and  devotion  until 
his  lamented  death.  On  my  removal  to  New  York,  a  few 
months  after  the  formation  of  the  national  institution,  one 
of  the  earhest  duties  of  my  new  residence  was  to  tender  my 
humble  aid  in  the  advancement  of  the  glorious  cause  through 
this  great  instrumentality. 

"  I  now  bless  God  that  he  has  allowed  me  for  so  long  a 
period  to  be  a  witness  of  the  delightful  harmony  with  which 
its  proceedings  have  been  conducted,  and  the  ever-widening 
scope  of  its  salutary  influence ;  and  to  unite  in  the  inspiring 
hopes  of  its  friends  for  its  becoming  in  future  years  a  still 
greater  blessing  to  our  beloved  country  and  to  the  destitute 
in  foreign  lands. 

"  If  there  were  sufficient  reasons  for  the  organization  of 
this  plan  by  the  parent  Society  in  England — and  the  great 
Author  of  the  Bible,  by  vouchsafing  a  most  abundant  bless- 
ing upon  its  measures,  I  feel  assured,  has  sanctioned  such  a 
conclusion — we  have  the  like  reason  to  believe,  that  his 
providence  and  Spirit  led  to  our  following  their  good  exam- 
ple ;  and  that  in  contributing  the  most  vigorous  eflbrts  for 
continuing  and  extending  the  work,  we  are  acting  in  con- 
formity to  his  holy  will,  and  acceptably  promoting  his  de- 
signs of  mercy  to  our  fallen  world.  Never  were  the  signs  of 
the  times  more  indicative  of  the  necessity  of  more  labor,  and 
prayer,  and  pecuniary  means  for  carrying  forward  our  hal- 
lowed undertaking.     The  dishonor  done  to  the  book  of  God 


HIS  MlXISTllY.  479 

by  putting  an  uncertain  tradition  upon  a  level  with  it  as  a 
rule  of  faith,  is  no  longer  confmed  to  the  corrupt  church 
which  has  so  long  been  guilty  of  that  crying  sin ;  individuals 
of  other  communions  not  hesitating  to  embrace  the  same 
ruinous  error. 

"  One  of  the  most  effectual  methods  of  counteracting  this 
impious  treatment  of  God's  merciful  revelation,  wherever  it 
may  obtain,  is  the  universal  circulation  of  that  blessed  book 
which  is  its  own  best  witness,  and  wherever  read,  with 
prayer  for  the  light  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  its  perusal,  will 
establish  its  claim  as  the  only  and  exclusive  test  of  Chris- 
tian faith  and  practice. 

"  May  the  Lord  be  with  you  in  your  coming  delibera- 
tions, and  shed  on  all  your  minds  the  enlightening  influences 
of  his  grace. 

"  With  my  earnest  prayers  for  the  happiest  results  to 
your  meeting,  I  am,  reverend  and  dear  sir,  your  faithful 
friend  and  brother  in  Christ, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor. 
"Woodward  College,  Cincinnati,  Nov.  29,  1843. 
"Dear  Brother — We  were  all  much  disappointed  by 
your  not  coming  to  the  late  meeting  of  the  Bible  Society  in 
this  city.  But  from  Dr.  Brigham's  account,  I  suppose  it 
would  have  been  imprudent  for  you  to  venture  upon  so  long 
a  journey  during  this  peculiarly  inclement  fall.  Your  alter- 
nate, Dr.  Spring,  did  nobly.  His  essay  was  learned,  logical, 
and  to  my  mind,  conclusive  :  clothed  in  a  style  perfectly 
clear  and  neat,  and  breathing  throiighout  a  spirit  eminently 
Christian.  I  hope  it  will  be  speedily  published,  and  widely 
circulated ;  as  it  cannot  fail,  with  the  divine  blessing,  of  do- 
ing much  good.  Still,  I  would  rather  have  had  a  paper  from 
you  ;  because,  besides  its  general  argument,  you  could  have 
given  it  a  most  salutary  bearing  upon  the  particular  state 
of  OUT  church.     Why,  indeed,  can  you  not  let  your  essay, 


480  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

which  I  suppose  you  prepared,  go  out  to  the  world  ?  Cer- 
tainly there  is  great  need  of  argument  and  information  on 
the  subject  of  '  tlie  rule  of  faith,'  in  these  days  of  nascent 
Tractarianism  and  reviving  Romanism.  There  is  a  straight- 
forward, candid,  common-sense  way  of  handling  subjects, 
which  preeminently  belongs  to  you,  and  which  is  peculiarly 
adapted  to  engage  the  popular  mind,  and  carry  conviction 
to  the  popular  judgment.  I  should  anticipate  the  best  re- 
sults from  such  an  efibrt  on  your  part. 

"  Your  afi'ectionate  brother, 

"  And  servant  in  Christ, 

"B.  P.  AYDELOTT." 
During  the  fall  of  this  year,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Irving,  our 
foreign  secretary  and  general  agent,  was  invited  to  assist  Dr. 
Mihior  in  the  labors  of  St.  George's,  and  continued,  more  or 
less  constantly,  his  valuable  services  during  the  remainder 
of  the  rector's  life.  The  remark  ought  not  to  be  omitted, 
that  to  both  the  brethren  who,  for  a  considerable  part  of 
the  last  ten  years  of  his  life,  acted  as  his  assistants  in  St. 
George's — the  Rev.  J.  W.  Cooke  and  Mr.  Irving — Dr.  Mil- 
nor  was  most  truly  attached.  With  none,  perhaps,  could 
he  have  held  more  cordial,  or  more  brotherly  intercourse  ; 
and  from  few,  if  any,  could  he  and  his  flock  have  received 
more  acceptable  auxiliary  labors. 


SECTION  IV. 

The  opening  of  the  year  1844  was  signalized,  in  the  life 
of  Dr.  Milnor,  by  an  attack  of  his  old  complaint,  which,  like 
that  of  the  year  1825,  brought  him  to  the  verge  of  the 
grave.  For  weeks,  his  friends  and  the  church  stood  trem- 
bling with  solicitude,  as  life  and  death  seemed  to  hang  again 
in  uncertain  balance ;  leaving  it  doubtful,  from  day  to  day, 


HIS  MINISTEY.  481 

which  would  preponderate.  Again,  therefore,  as  in  former 
days,  prayer  was  made  unceasingly  for  him,  by  individuals 
and  in  the  churches  ;  and  again,  as  in  that  memorable  crisis, 
prayer  prevailed  with  God,  and  life  was  once  more  prolonged 
to  this  his  faithful  servant.  A  few  extracts  from  letters 
which  he  received  soon  after  his  recovery,  furnish  pleasing 
evidences  of  the  strength  and  tenderness  of  the  feeling  which 
his  peril  had  inspired. 

From  Bishop   Eastburn. 

"Boston,  March  6,  1844. 
"My  dear  Friend — An  intention,  long  cherished,  to 
address  a  few  lines  to  you  from  this  my  new  home  and  field 
of  labor,  is  now  quickened  by  the  desire  which  I  feel  to  con- 
gratulate you  on  your  recent  recovery  from  severe  and  dan- 
gerous illness.  I  am  filled,  as  I  humbly  trust,  with  gratitude 
to  God  that  he  has  spared  you  for  yet  further  services  to  his 
church,  at  this  period  of  her  searching  trials.  Little  can  we 
afford  to  lose  at  such  a  time,  if  ever,  those  of  God's  minis- 
tering servants  who  are  true  to  the  grand  essentials  of  the 
gospel,  and  to  those  standards  of  our  church  which  so  un- 
equivocally set  forth  the  gospel.  May  you  live,  my  dear 
friend,  to  see  the  present  cloud  passing  away,  and  to  wit- 
ness the  triumph  of  our  scriptural  communion  over  princi- 
ples which,  if  generally  prevalent,  would  reduce  us  to  a 
condition  little  different  from  that  of  the  dark  ages  :  to  a 
body  without  a  soul,  a  shell  without  the  kernel." 

From  the  Rev.   Mr.   Irving. 

"New  Okleans,  14th  March,  1844. 
"  Hev.  and  dear  Sir — A  very  long  time  had  elapsed 
without  any  intelligence  from  New  York ;  and  as  my  last 
advices  spoke  of  your  very  serious  illness,  I  was  sufiiiring 
great  disquietude  on  your  account.  But  I  have  this  mo- 
ment been  put  in  possession  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Denison, 
of  the  4th  inst.,  in  which  he  delights  me  by  saying,  that 

Mem.  Milnor,  2 1 


482  MEMOIE,  OF  DR.  MILNOH. 

he  had  that  day  seen  you  in  your  study  *  quite  yourself 
again.'  I  hardly  know  how  to  express  the  emotions  of 
joy  and  gratitude  with  which  I  have  read  this  letter.  I 
had  heen  filled  with  sad  forebodings  of  mournful  intelli- 
gence. I  had  been  thinking  of  all  that  we  should  lose  in 
the  church,  and  especially  in  our  foreign  committee,  should 
it  please  God  to  take  you  to  himself.  And  now,  my  joy 
is  in  proportion  to  the  depression  under  which  I  had  been 
laboring.  My  heart  instinctively  blessed  God  that  he  has 
seen  good  to  spare  you  yet  a  while  to  his  church.  '  To 
depart  and  be  with  Christ '  would,  indeed,  for  you,  be  '  far 
better;'  yet,  I  am  persuaded,  that  for  us,  it  is  'more  need- 
ful' that  you  should  'abide  in  the  flesh.'  And  so  think 
many,  very  many  of  God's  people.  Everywhere  have  I 
found  men  inquiring  about  you  with  the  greatest  solici- 
tude ;  and  this  moment,  while  on  my  return  from  the  post- 
office  with  Mr.  Denison's  letter  open  in  my  hand,  I  met  one 
who,  hearing  the  news,  thanked  God  aloud  for  tliis  mercy 
to  his  church. 

"  To  me,  my  venerable  friend,  it  is  a  matter  of  deep  per 
sonal  gratitude.  When  I  came  to  New  York  last  summer, 
as  my  place  of  abode,  I  returned  to  the  home  of  my  youth , 
yet,  alas,  I  felt  myself  almost  a  stranger.  Spiritually  I 
seemed  to  be  alone.  But  your  kindness  reheved  me  from 
the  loneliness ;  while  I  every  day  felt  thankful  that  God 
had  brought  me  into  such  frequent  intercourse  with  you,  to 
be  cheered  and  refreshed  by  your  society." 

From   Bishop  Mcllvaine. 

"  Gambier,  June  20,  1844. 
"  My  dear  Doctor — I  have  often  intended  writing  to 
you  to  express  my  joy  at  your  recovery  from  your  dangerous 
illness ;  but  almost  constant  absence  from  home  on  visita- 
tions, for  three  months,  has  prevented.  For  a  long  while  I 
could  not  hear  how  you  were ;  and  only  judged  you  were 
better,  because  not  hearing  that  you  were  worse.     I  have 


HIS  MINISTRY.  483 

no  doubt  you  experienced  the  same  sweet  support  and  peace 
in  your  danger  as  when,  many  years  ago,  you  lay  expecting 
to  depart.  The  Lord  has  raised  you  up  to  witness  and  share 
still  more  of  the  trials  of  his  church.  How  we  are  beset 
on  all  sides !  Our  heresies  within ;  the  universal  crusade 
against  us  from  without ;  and  then,  the  fuel  to  the  zeal  of 
that  crusade,  which  is  given  by  such  tribulations  as  that  in 
Philadelphia,  and  the  less  public  but  quite  understood  case 
of  greater  evil  in  New  York.     These  are  trials  I" 

While  Dr.  Milnor  was  recovering  from  his  dangerous  ill- 
ness, his  old  friend  the  Bishop  of  Calcutta  was  penning  the 
following  letter ;  which,  of  course,  could  not  have  been  re- 
ceived till  a  considerably  later  period. 

To   the   Eev.   Dr.   Milnor. 
"MoRADABAD,  NEAR  Meerutt,  March  19,  1844. 

"  My  dear,  deau  Friend — I  received  your  esteemed  let- 
ter of  July  8,  1842,  just  before  I  left  Calcutta  last  October ; 
and  it  has  been  accompanying  me  for  nearly  one  thousand 
nine  hundred  miles  of  my  circuitous  route,  waiting  to  be 
answered,  month  after  month.  At  length  a  delay  of  two 
days  from  indisposition,  at  this  small  station,  has  determined 
me  to  thank  you  for  your  most  valuable  letter,  which  was 
as  cold  water  to  a  thirsty  soul.  It  must,  I  fancy,  have  been 
brought  by  a  private  hand.  The  pamphlets  also,  which 
accompanied  your  letter,  were  most  welcome  ;  and  any  rep- 
etitions of  such  favors  will  be  equally  so. 

"  Your  statement  of  the  narrow  means  of  your  church 
missions  is  but  too  satisfactory  as  an  answer  to  my  request 
for  Episcopal  missionaries.  But  I  cannot  help  lamenting 
that  although  there  are  nineteen  Presbyterians,  yet  there  is 
not  one  Churchman,  in  our  sense  of  the  word,  in  British 
India.  We  are  so  much  in  want  of  national  clergy  also, 
that  I  have  lately  formed  a  '  Calcutta  Diocesan  Additional 
Clergy  Society,'  for  the  support,  by  subscriptions,  of  a  cer- 


i 


,*y  ^ i  V  ^ *' 


484  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

tain  number  of  clergy,  aided  by  the  stations  where  they  are 
mtended  to  labor. 

"  Tractariaiiism  is  on  the  wane,  thank  God,  both  in 
England  and  in  India ;  but  it  smothers  still  in  the  live  ashes 
of  our  corrupt  and  superstitious  nature,  and  will  break  out 
again  unless  extinguished,  embers  and  all,  by  floods  of  graco 
on  the  dry  ground,  rivers  opening  in  the  wilderness  itself. 

*'  I  rejoice  to  hear  that  so  many  of  your  bishops  and 
clergy  are  alive  and  sound  in  the  faith.  I  bless  God  espec- 
ially for  the  talent  and  rare  faithfulness  of  Bishop  Mcllvaine. 
His  protest  is  admirable,  and  his  late  charge  the  very  best 
thing  that  has  appeared  in  so  small  a  compass.  Our  Bishop 
of  Ossory  has  also  done  incomparably  well  in  another  style 
of  thought  and  argument ;  cool,  dispassionate,  candid,  labo- 
rious, mild,  and  yet  forcible  and  convincuig. 

"  The  tidings  of  yourself,  my  beloved  friend,  are  most 
grateful  to  me.  My  own  family  mercies  are  also  remarka- 
ble. I  have  but  a  son  and  a  daughter  :  the  former  at  Isling- 
ton, with  near  sixty  thousand  souls,  and  twenty-four  clergy  ; 
the  latter  married  to  the  Vicar  of  Huddersfield,  with  forty 
thousand  souls,  twelve  churches,  and  fifteen  or  more  clergy. 
Bless  the  Lord,  0  my  soul.  Soon,  dear  brother,  we  must 
put  off,  each  of  us,  this  our  tabernacle,  even  as  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  hath  showed  us.  May  we  endeavor  that,  after 
our  decease,  our  people  may  have  the  truths  of  the  gospel 
still  in  remembrance. 

"  Write  to  me,  love  me,  pray  for  me. 

"  I  am  your  affectionate 

"D.  CALCUTTA." 

"VS'ith  his  accustomed  assiduity.  Dr.  Milnor  now  devoted 
his  newly  recovered  health  and  strength  to  the  performance 
of  his  parochial  duties  ;  withdrawing,  as  much  as  he  con- 
sistently could,  from  the  strifes  of  the  church,  and  spending 
what  he  felt  to  be  emphatically  his  last  days  in  still  and 
sacred  fellowship  with  his  God  and  Saviour.  How  long  he 
was  to  live,  he  knew  not ;  but  he  knew,  that  though  many 


HIS  MINISTRY.  485 

years  should  be  added  to  liis  course  on  eartli,  they  might 
yet  be  justly  regarded  as  an  addition  to  be  spent,  not  in 
reassimilating  his  tastes  and  feelings  to  the  acerbities  and 
contentiousness  of  men,  but  in  further  ripenhig  the  temper 
of  his  spirit  for  the  sweet  and  peaceful  employments  of 
heaven.  He  passed  a  part  of  his  usual  summer  vacation 
v^^ith  his  friend  and  former  parishioner,  Mr.  Jeremiah  H. 
Taylor,  at  his  quiet  retirement  on  the  banks  of  the  Con- 
necticut. 

But,  notwithstanding  his  growing  fondness  for  a  calm 
and  meditative  life,  he  was  compelled  to  close  the  year  1844 
amid  two  of  perhaps  the  severest  trials  of  his  pilgrimage. 
To  the  one  of  these  trials  reference  is  made  in  the  following 
note : 

To   the   Eev.   Dr.   Stone. 

"New  York,  Dec.  7,  1844 

"  E.EV.  AND  DEAR  Brother — My  heavy  domestic  afflic 
tion  must  be  my  apology  for  not  remembering  my  promise 

to  Mr. ,  to  return  an  earlier  answer  to  your  note  of  the 

2d  inst."  After  briefly  disposing  of  the  business  to  which 
the  note  related,  he  proceeds  : 

"Our  dear  Ellen  had  an  awful  day  yesterday,  and  as 
bad  a  night.  Dr.  Delafield,  who  was  called  in  for  consulta- 
tion yesterday,  gives  us  some  encouragement  from  the  fact, 
verified  in  his  practice,  that  few  patients  die  of  these  ner- 
vous diseases.  But  her  debility  is  extreme,  and  her  stomach 
in  so  irritable  a  state  as  to  reject  all  food ;  so  that  I  confess 
I  entertain  but  little  hope.  Give  us  your  prayers.  I  have 
more  than  once  realized,  in  my  own  experience,  the  availa- 
bleness  of  fervent  intercession  ;  and  I  know  much  is  now 
offered  for  our  poor  afflicted  daughter. 

"  With  our  kind  regards  to  Mrs.  Stone, 

"  Affectionately  yours, 

"JAMES  MILNOH." 

This  return  of  his  younger  daughter's  former  malady, 
from  which  she  had  now  enjoyed  several  years  of  apparently 


486  MEMOIE  OF  DR.  MILNOE. 

full  exemption,  was  attended  with  uncommon  aggravations 
in  the  violence  of  the  disease,  and  in  the  disappointment  of 
Ibnd  young  hopes  by  the  sudden  death  of  a  friend.  To  her 
parents,  both  the  malady,  and  the  disappointment  by  which 
it  was  precipitated  and  made  so  dreadful,  were  inexpressibly 
afflictive ;  and  for  months  they  hung  in  painful  solicitude, 
as  over  a  frail  and  delicate  flower,  which  threatened  every 
moment  to  drop  from  the  parent  stem. 

And.  then,  in  the  very  midst  of  this  bitterness  came  that 
other  trial  to  which  we  have  alluded.  Immediately  after 
the  rising  of  our  General  Convention,  in  the   autumn  of 

1844,  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  of  New  York  was  presented 
for  trial  on  those  grave  charges,  the  investigation  of  which 
resulted  in  his  suspension  from  office  on  the  3d  of  January, 

1845.  Of  this  ecclesiastical  trial  no  account  is  here  needed, 
or  would  be  proper.  All  into  whose  hands  these  pages  will 
come,  know  what  facts  were  charged ;  all  know  how  long 
the  bishop's  trial,  on  those  charges,  continued  to  agitate  the 
Episcopal  church  throughout  the  Union  ;  aiid  all  know  how 
deeply  this  church  has  been  humbled  under  the  result  to 
which  that  trial  led.  All  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  add  in 
this  place,  is  to  say,  that  during  the  trial.  Dr.  Milnor  was 
called  on  to  testify  to  an  important  transaction  which  the 
case  involved  ;  that  he  consented  to  bear  his  testimony  with 
the  most  unfeigned  reluctance  ;  that  he  felt  himself  dragged 
from  his  loved  retirement  and  meditations  into  the  most 
painful  contact  possible  with  the  convulsions  which  were 
heaving  our  church  ;  that  he  bore  his  testimony  at  the  bid- 
ding of  simple  duty,  but  with  all  the  directness,  candor,  and 
solemnity  of  a  Christian  man  ;  and  that  the  character  of  his 
testimony  had  a  manifest  weight  in  deciding  the  minds  of 
many  who  were  sitting  m  judgment  on  the  case.  The  most 
profound  attention  was  given  to  his  statement,  and  the  most 
strenuous  eflbrt  made  to  invalidate  it.  But  this  eflbrt  was 
in  vain.  He  had  himself  once  been  an  examining  lawyer ; 
*nd  now,  as  a  Christian  witness,  he  understood  too  well  the 


HIS  MiNisTRr.  487 

nature  of  his  duty  and  of  his  position,  to  be  either  disturbed, 
or  driven  from  the  coohiess  of  conscious  rectitude,  or  from 
the  course  of  constant  truth.  He  did  his  duty  and  retired, 
leaving  results  with  Him  in  whose  hand  are  all  times  and 
all  events. 

To  his  conduct  throughout  this  agitating  crisis,  Bishop 
Smith  thus  refers,  in  a  recent  letter.  Alluding  to  two  things 
in  the  life  of  Dr.  Milnor  which  had  deeply  interested  him, 
the  bishop  says,  after  disposing  of  one  of  them, 

"  The  otlie?'  relates  to  the  impression  made  upon  me  by 
his  singular  forethought,  wisdom,  kindliness,  and  firmness, 
in  those  last  sad  acts  of  his  life  which  dragged  him  near, 
and  almost  into  the  vortex,  during  the  memorable  ecclesias^ 
tical  trial  in  New  York. 

"I  thought  I  already  knew  him  thoroughly,  and  that  I 
duly  appreciated  that  suigular  statesmanlike  combination  of 
boldness  and  firmness  of  principle  with  a  just  and  tender 
regard  for  the  rights  and  feelings  of  others,  and  a  most  scru- 
pulous care  to  preserve  liis  character  and  influence  intact 
and  unimpaired.  But  his  whole  course  during  our  General 
Convention,  pending  the  question  of  presentment  and  trial, 
and  during  his  own  long  and  vexatious  cross-examination, 
gave  me  so  much  higher  an  idea  than  I  had  ever  before  en- 
tertained of  his  wisdom  and  his  worth,  that  I  could  not  but 
devoutly  give  thanks  for  the  grace  of  God  which  was  in  him, 
and  also  greatly  wonder,  that  he  had  not  long  before  insured 
the  suffrages  of  his  brethren  somewhere  for  the  office  of  a 
bishop,  for  which  I  then  felt,  and  now  feel,  that  he  was  pre- 
eminently better  fitted,  in  all  such  the  highest  respects,  than 
many,  his  juniors,  on  the  bench  of  bishops." 

In  reference  to  the  same  period,  his  son,  in  his  "  Recol- 
lections," has  the  folio wmg  paragraph: 

"  One  of  the  most  unpleasant,  nay,  painful  passages  in 
the  life  of  Dr.  Mihior,  was  the  part  which  he  felt  it  his  duty 
to  take  on  the  trial  of  his  own  diocesan.  While  he  deeply 
deplored  the  necessity  which  called  him  forth,  he  shrunk  not 


488  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

from  tlie  obligation  which  Christian  duty  imposed.  Many 
different  opinions  have  been  expressed,  and  many  unkhid 
reflections  made,  on  the  course  which  he  took.  Those,  how- 
ever, who  attributed  it  to  other  motives  than  a  deep  sense 
of  the  duty  which  he  owed  his  church  and  his  office  as  a 
minister  of  God,  little  understood  the  individual  whom  they 
assumed  to  judge.  His  diocesan  and  himself  had  long  been 
on  terms  of  friendly  intercourse.  He  had  carefully  refrained, 
even  in  the  bosom  of  his  own  family,  from  speaking  of  for- 
mer delinquencies ;  trusting,  with  his  wonted  unsuspecting 
generosity,  to  professed  penitence  and  promised  reformation. 
But  when  he  fully  believed  that  he  had  been  disappointed, 
and  that  the  probation  had  been  abused,  his  resolution  was 
taken.  All  personal  considerations  were  merged  in  regard 
for  the  welfare  of  the  church  and  tlie  cause  of  religion.  The 
evidence  which  he  gave  on  the  trial  was  clear  and  consist- 
ent ;  and  the  attempts  which  were  made  to  shake  his  credi- 
bility as  a  witness,  on  the  score  of  failing  memory,  or  on 
that  of  intentional  misrepresentation,  alike  failed,  and  re- 
coiled on  their  authors.  His  memory  was  but  too  retentive, 
and  his  tale  too  truthful  for  many  who  listened  ;  while  the 
doubting  minds  of  some  on  the  bench  were  settled  by  it  in 
coincidence  with  the  verdict  which  was  rendered.  Dr.  Mil- 
nor,  I  know,  felt  deeply  the  exceedingly  unkind  remarks  of 
one  of  the  bishops  respecting  his  testimony.  He  repeatedly 
spoke  of  them  to  me,  and  mentioned  that  he  had  been 
strongly  advised  to  notice  them.  No  diiference  of  opinion, 
he  thought,  should  have  induced  a  man  so  completely  to 
forget  Christian  kindness  and  the  respect  due  to  age." 

As  soon  as  the  verdict  and  sentence  with  which  the 
trial  closed  had  been  pronounced,  and  even  while  the 
chuuih  throughout  the  land  was  rocking  amid  the  agita- 
tions which  followed.  Dr.  Milnor  again  withdrew,  as  much 
as  possible,  into  the  retirement  of  his  own  parish  and  his 
own  thoughts;  composed  and  peaceiul  in  tlie  approbation 
of  his  conscience,  and  desirous  above  all  things  of  cultiva^ 


ills  MINISTRY.  489 

ing  closeness  of  communion  with  God'land  heaven.  Nor 
was  it  long  ere  the  state  of  mind  to  which  he  was  brought 
by  his  illness  of  the  previous  winter,  was  again  comfortingly- 
regained.  To  each  period  the  following  remarks  of  his  son, 
in  the  "  Recollections,"  are  equally  appropriate. 

"  The  dangers  which  threatened  the  church  and  the 
cause  of  evangehcal  religion,  from  the  controversies  and 
convulsions  of  the  day,  he  dreaded  much,  and  constantly 
deplored.  But  amid  them  all,  he  strove  to  live  in  a  calm 
and  sacred  self  possession.  I  heard  a  conversation  between 
him  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Walter,  while  the  latter  was  tempo- 
rarily supplying  his  pulpit  during  his  dangerous  illness,  in 
which  he  very  feehngly  alluded  to  those  controversies  and 
convulsions,  and  remarked  that  he  had  long  tried  to  keep 
himself  aloof  from  all  contentions,  and  to  devote  himself, 
with  redoubled  vigilance,  to  his  own  parish.  Years  were 
creeping  upon  him,  the  fire  of  youth  was  abated,  and  the 
holy  calm  of  eternity  was  settling  on  his  spirit." 

It  would  be  wrong,  however,  to  infer  from  what  has 
been  said,  that  the  calm  of  his  ripened  age  was  spent  in  the 
contemplations  of  solitude.  He  was  still  a  hard-working 
man  in  the  cause  of  general  benevolence,  as  well  as  in  the 
rounds  of  parochial  duty;  and,  during  the  winter  of  1845, 
became  deeply  interested  in  a  contemplated  movement  which 
had  for  its  object  the  accommodation  of  many  in  the  upper 
part  of  New  York,  especially  of  those  of  his  parishioners  who 
were  led,  by  the  pressure  of  a  growing  city,  to  remove  to  an 
inconvenient  distance  from  St.  George's.  Such  were  the 
constantly  increasing  demands  of  business  for  space  in  which 
to  operate,  that  the  dwellings  of  the  wealthy  and  of  the  poor 
in  the  old  and  lower  parts  of  the  city,  were  more  and  more 
rapidly  transformed  into  shops  and  stores,  and  their  occu- 
pants compelled  to  seek  their  residences  in  other  and  more 
distant  neighborhoods.  The  regular  worshippers  at  St. 
George's  were,  indeed,  drawn  towards  their  old  place  by  the 
strong  bond  of  personal  aflection  and  veneration  for  him  \s  ho 

21# 


490  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

had  so  long  been  their  chosen  spiritual  guide  ;  and  not  a  few 
of  them,  disregarding  distance,  were  still  constant  attendants 
on  his  ministry.  Nevertheless,  general  tendencies  were  too 
manifest  and  too  strong  to  be  either  disregarded  or  resisted ; 
and  Dr.  Milnor  and  his  vestry  became,  during  the  winter  of 
1845,  earnestly  engaged  in  considering  the  question  which 
was  thus  brought  home  to  their  minds.  Having  an  ample 
parish-endowment,  and  an  endowment  more  ample  still  in 
the  liberality  of  the  parishioners,  the  plan  upon  which  they 
fell  was  that  of  building  a  chapel  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
city,  which  should  be  appropriated  to  free  sitti7igs.  The 
writer  of  the  "  Recollections "  ascribes  to  liis  father  the 
following  views  on  the  subject  of  the  contemplated  move- 
ment. 

"He  long  mourned  over  the  changes  which  every  spring 
brought  among  his  parishioners.  His  congregation  had  be- 
come a  shiftmg  one,  and  he  could  not  stem  the  current.  It 
was  setting  resistlessly  upwards.  Still,  no  new  edifice,  how- 
ever splendid,  could  ever  have  taken  the  place,  in  his  affec- 
tions, of  old  St.  George's.  It  had  been,  for  nearly  thirty 
years,  the  field,  fruitful  and  extensive,  of  his  labors ;  and  to 
no  other  could  he  ever  have  transferred  the  feelmgs  of  home 
and  the  interests  of  life.  His  views  in  relation  to  the  pro- 
posed edifice  were  in  strict  accordance  with  the  lovely  sim- 
plicity of  his  character.  He  desired  a  plain,  modest  buildmg, 
in  which  the  rich  and  the  poor  could  worship  God  together. 
For  the  sake  of  the  latter,  the  sittings  were  to  be  free.  He 
loved  the  poor.  He  never  forgot  the  Saviour's  words,  *  To 
the  poor  the  gospel  is  preached.'  Throughout  his  ministry, 
they  received  a  large  portion  of  his  care." 

After  his  recovery  in  the  winter  of  1844,  he  enjoyed  his 
usual  health  and  vigor,  both  of  body  and  of  mind,  insomuch 
that  but  for  his  thin  white  locks,  he  might  well  have  been 
mistaken  for  a  man  of  sixty,  instead  of  one  near  the  opening 
of  his  seventy-third  year.  His  form  was  still  unbent,  and 
his  step  quick  and  firm  ;  his  voice  was  strong  and  free  from 


HIS  MINISTRY.  491 

tremulousness,  and  his  eye  bright  and  full  of  expression ;  his 
complexion,  too,  wore  its  usual  unwrinkled  and  ruddy  fresh- 
ness, and  all  his  faculties  of  mind  seemed  as  quick  and  un- 
dimmed  as  ever.  In  short,  the  approaches  of  age  manifested 
themselves  in  little  more  than  his  grooving  fondness  for  repose 
and  quiet  meditation,  and  an  increasing  aversion  to  the  strifes 
and  noises  of  the  age  ;  and  even  these  feelings  seemed,  in  a 
good  degree,  the  promptings  of  a  consciousness,  never  absent, 
that  his  years  could  not  be  many,  and  that  his  constitutional 
tendency  exposed  him  every  day  to  a  sudden  arrest  and  sum- 
mons to  depart.  Under  this  consciousness,  he  may  be  said 
to  have  been  now  living  and  laboring  by  the  day. 

On  Sunday,  the  6th  of  April,  he  preached  an  admirable 
discourse  on  the  subject  of  "«  charitable  judgment  of  the 
opinions  and  conduct  of  others,,'"'  in  vt^hich,  without  profess- 
ing to  do  so,  he  yet  really  and  ably  illustrated  and  defended 
his  own  principles  and  life  in  all  his  past  intercourse  with 
Christians  of  different  names.  And  on  the  evening  of  Tues- 
day, the  8th  of  the  same  month,  he  presided  in  his  own 
study  at  a  meeting  of  the  Directors  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb 
Institution,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  founders,  and  had 
long  been  a  beneficent  patron.  It  was  at  the  close  of  this 
meeting,  that  one  of  the  directors  congratulated  him  on  his 
appearance  of  good  health,  and  that  in  reply  to  the  congrat- 
ulation, he  laid  his  hand  upon  his  breast,  and  said,  "  I  have 
something  here,  sir,  that  warns  me  to  expect  death  at  any 
moment."  The  warning  was  not  causeless.  In  five  hours 
from  the  adjournment  of  the  directors,  his  body  lay — a  life" 
less  form! 

What  an  appropriate  gathering  of  incidents  !  His  last 
deed  for  the  cause  of  Christ  was  amid  labors  of  benevolence  ; 
his  last  sermon  to  his  flock  was  an  elucidation  of  his  whole 
Cliristian  life;^   and  one  of  his  last  words  showed,  that 

*  The  last  sermon  which  he  ever  preached  was  to  the  inmates  of 
the  "Asylum  for  Respectable  Aged  and  Indigent  Females,"  on  the 
afternoon  of  Sunday,  April  6,  two  days  before  his  death.     Those  in- 


492  MEMOIR  OF   DR.  MILNOR. 

though  in  apparently  perfect  health,  he  was  yet  waitmg 
to  die. 

Thus  suddenly,  and  with  little  note  of  preparation,  have 
we  reached  the  event  to  which  these  pages  have  been  tend- 
ing. But  not  more  suddenly,  nor  with  less  note  of  prepara- 
tion, has  it  now  come  upon  the  reader,  than  it  actually  broke 
upon  t\iQ  family,  on  that  sad  night  of  the  8th  of  April,  1845, 
and  upon  the  2)ublic  ear,  on  the  sorroAvful  morning  of  the  fol- 
lowing day.  The  particulars  of  his  death  are  furnished  in 
the  following  letter  from  his  son,  who  was  his  only  medical 
attendant  and  nurse,  and  who  wrote  to  Mr.  Winston  soon 
after  the  event. 

"Dear  Sir — At  your  request,  I  will  give  you  a  brief 
account  of  the  closing  scene  of  my  dear  father's  life.  For 
some  days  previous  to  his  death,  his  general  health  appeared 
to  be  improved.  There  seemed  to  be  a  rallying  of  the  pow- 
ers of  nature  for  a  last  effort.  You  will  recollect  with  what 
strength  of  voice  and  energy  of  manner  his  last  sermon  in 
our  church  was  delivered.  At  home,  he  was  cheerful  and 
happy  ;  engaging  with  all  the  animation  and  spirit  of  earlier 
years,  in  the  new  arrangements  which  were  in  contemplation. 
On  the  morning  of  Tuesday,  the  day  which  was  to  close  liis 
career,  he  appeared  at  family  prayer  and  breakfast  as  well  as 
usual.  At  noon,  I  saw  him  writing  at  the  very  desk  from 
which  these  lines  to  you  will  issue,  complaining  ol'  no  ail- 
ment. I  cautioned  him  respecting  the  change  of  weather, 
and  left  him. 

"  On  our  reunion  at  the  dinner-table,  he  informed  me 
that  during  his  walk  that  morning,  his  oppression  and  diffi- 
culty of  breathing  had  been  much  worse  than  usual.  0 
what  a  pang  shot  through  my  own  heart  on  listening  to  these 
words.  For  a  year  past,  I  had  been  confident  that  he  labor- 
mates  were  much  attached  to  him,  and  at  the  close  of  the  service, 
crowded  around  to  bid  liim,  what  they  little,  thought  was  to  be,  a 
last  farewell. 


HIS  MINISTRY.  493 

ed  under  a  disease  of  the  heart,  which  was  incurable,  and 
would,  in  all  probability,  terminate  instantly.  Although  I 
never  distinctly  told  him  my  own  opinion  of  his  situation, 
and  though  to  me  the  end  seemed  to  be  slowly,  but  surely 
approaching,  and  once  that  very  day  I  had  avoided  a  direct 
answer  to  his  question,  whether  he  had  not  a  disease  of  the 
heart ;  yet  for  a  long  time  he  was  convinced  that  such  was 
the  case,  and  was  unquestionably  expecting  a  sudden  termi- 
nation of  life.  I  advised  him  to  keep  quiet  at  home  for  the 
remainder  of  the  day  ;  and  he  did  so" — presiding,  however, 
as  we  have  seen,  at  the  meeting  in  his  study  of  the  Direc- 
tors of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Institution,  and  uttering  the  im- 
pressive words  which  have  already  been  quoted. 

"At  tea  I  saw  no  change.  I  sat  with  him  until  eight, 
and  then  left  him  reading.  At  half  past  nine,  I  visited  him 
again ;  he  was  still  reading,  and  said  he  felt  comfortable. 
At  ten,  I  heard  him  pass  my  room  door  on  his  way  to  bed. 
He  called  loudly  on  my  younger  brother,  who  slept  with  him, 
to  come  to  bed,  and  then  retired  to  his  own  room.  I  was 
waiting  until  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  for  his  undressing 
before  1  made  him  my  usual  final  visit  for  the  night,  when 
my  brother  entered,  and  bade  me  come  immediately.  On 
reaching  his  room,  I  found  him  sitting  upon  his  bed  hi  great 
distress,  and  gasping  for  breath ;  not  worse,  however,  than 
I  had  often  seen  him  before,  when,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  I 
had  been  able  to  relieve  him.  I  immediately  administered 
the  usual  draught.  He  complained  of  great  coldness,  and 
said,  '  Heyiry,  I  am  dying — /  am  dying.'  I  prepared  a 
still  stronger  remedy,  and  while  mixing  it  heard  him  caLmJy 
pi'aying,  '  God  have  mercy  ;  have  mercy — '  "  [Something 
scarcely  audible,  the  writer  says,  was  added  ;  but  whether  it 
was  a  prayer  for  himself,  his  family,  or  his  flock,  he  could 
not  distinguish.  This  only  could  he  perceive,  that  it  was 
the  prayer  of  a  soul  at  peace,  and  sweetly  breathing  out  its 
desires  to  God  ]  "On  my  presenting  him  the  mixture,  he 
doubted  his  ability  to  swallow.     I  begged  him  to  make  the 


494  MEMOITl  of  dr.  MILNOR. 

attempt.  He  did  so,  and  succeeded.  In  a  few  moments  he 
became  insensible ;  his  breath  grew  softer ;  and  his  spirit 
passed  so  quietly  away,  that  I  knew  not  the  exact  moment 
of  its  passing-. 

"  So  went  to  his  gracious  reward  this  best  of  fathers,  full 
of  years  and  of  honors  in  his  Saviour's  cause.  He  died  with 
his  harness  on.  He  had  long  stood  watching  at  the  portals 
of  eternity,  listening  for  the  Spirit's  song  to  call  him  home. 
That  strain  was  sounding  m  his  ears  when  I  reached  his 
bedside.  It  was  not  for  human  voice  to  call  him  back  when 
the  heavenly  Harper  was  bidding  him  away. 
"  Yours,  very  truly, 

"WSI.  II.  MILNOR." 

To  show  how  deliberately  and  habitually,  though  in 
silence  and  by  himself,  he  had  for  some  time  been  "  setting 
his  house  in  order,"  in  expectation  of  a  sudden  death,  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  the  "  Recollections"  is  given  : 

"  The  last  sermon  which  he  began  to  write,  was  from 
Psalm  1 6  :  8  :  '  I  have  set  the  Lord  ahvays  before  me :  be- 
cause he  is  at  tny  right  hand,  I  shall  ^wt  he  moved'  The 
manuscript  is  now  before  me.  Only  one  page  is  finished, 
and  that  page  closes  with  the  following  sentence,  the  last  he 
ever  wrote  for  his  people :  '  The  faithful  servant  of  God 
desires  not  only  to  cultivate  an  habitual  regard  to  his  pres- 
ence, as  a  matter  of  duty,  but  also  to  enjoy  a  constant  s,ense 
of  that  presence,  as  a  special  j^>rm/e^e.'  How  soon  was  he 
permitted  to  enjoy,  not  a  mere  foretasting  sen&e^  but  the  Ojd- 
ual  presence  of  God  himself  I 

"As  he  had  for  some  time  evidently  been  looking  for  a 
sudden  call,  so  all  his  actions  seemed  to  have  a  reference  to 
it.  Thus,  all  his  accounts  were  carefully  made  up,  and  use- 
ful memoranda  were  placed  where  they  could  easily  be  found. 
He  had  indeed  '  set  his  house  in  order' 

"  A  few  days  before  his  death,  his  daughter  Ellen's  health 
required  a  change  of  climate,  and  her  mother  accompanied 
her  to  the  South.     He  yielded  to  the  necessity  of  the  case, 


HIS  MINISTRY.  496 

but  parted  from  them  with  great  reluctance.  He  doubtless 
felt,  that  so  far  as  earth  is  concerned,  the  parting  would  be 
final.  He  stood  on  the  wharf  with  me  gazing  after  them  till 
they  were  lost  in  the  distance,  and  then,  with  an  attempt  at 
cheerfulness  which  I  saw  he  did  not  feel,  turned  away." 

The  reference  in  this  extract  to  his  sad  parting  with  his 
wife,  explains  an  allusion  in  the  foregoing  letter,  to  the  fact 
that  a  "  younger  brother"  slept  with  his  father.  There  was 
a  sort  of  unacknowledged  recognition  of  the  truth,  that  it 
had  become  unsafe  for  him  to  sleep  alone.  Nor  was  Elea- 
nor's afflictive  and  protracted  illness,  with  the  consequent 
absence  of  her  mother  and  herself,  the  only  circumstance 
which,  at  that  moment,  tended  to  make  the  rectory  of  St. 
George's  more  than  usually  lonely.  The  youngest  son  was 
at  the  same  time  on  his  way  to  Europe,  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  business  in  which  he  had  engaged.  Thus  almost  alone 
did  the  master  of  the  mansion  pass  away.  And  yet  he  was 
not  alone,  for,  besides  the  hand  of  filial  tenderness  that  minis- 
tered to  his  case,  God  was  with  him  ;  and  with  that  presence 
his  departing  soul  was  doubtless  satisfied.  He  felt  the  Lord 
''at  Ids  right  hand;""  and  therefore  he  was  ''not  moved.''' 
In  the  calmness  of  prayer  he  communed  with  his  Father  even 
while  passing  the  gate  of  death ;  and  therefore  breathed  his 
soul  away  so  softly,  even  as  it  had  been  a  babe  falling  quietly 
asleep  on  its  mother's  bosom. 

From  this  brief  notice  of  the  good  man's  death,  of  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  occurred,  and  of  his  prepara- 
tion for  the  event,  we  must  pass  to  dwell  a  few  moments  on 
the  impression  which  it  made  on  the  public  mind,  and  on  the 
regards  which  were  paid  to  his  memory. 

It  may  be  said  with  truth,  that  seldom,  if  ever,  have 
sinmltaneous  and  wide-spread  expressions  of  public  grief  tes- 
tified more  loudly  or  more  touchingly  to  the  worth  of  a  de- 
parted man  of  God,  than  those  which  were  poured  forth  upon 
the  announcement  of  Dr.  Milnor's  sudden  demise.  He  had 
not  been  living  in  his  closet  alone,  nor  in  his  study  chiefly, 


496  MEMOm  OF  DE.  MILNOR. 

perusing  or  producing  those  volumes  which  eHcit  the  w^orld's 
loud  praises  or  louder  strictures,  to  soothe  or  to  torture  the 
living  author's  ear.  "  Fruitur  suafama''  could  hideed  be 
said  of  him,  if  not  as  a  living  scholar,  at  least  as  a  living 
actor,  moving  among  the  multitudes  whom  his  beneficent 
life  had  blessed,  and  eiijoj4ng  the  secret  consciousness  of  a 
well-earned  fame.  Still,  it  was  not  during  life  that  even  as 
an  actor  in  its  busy  scenes,  his  worth  was  fully  proclaimed, 
and  his  praises  fully  uttered.  Towards  the  living  philanthro- 
pist, the  living  man  of  beneficent  activity,  the  world  often 
behaves  not  only  with  something  of  fitting  modesty,  lest  its 
praises  should  seem  like  flattery,  but  also  with  something  of 
apparent  indifference,  because  not  fully  conscious  of  the  bless- 
ings which  it  is  receiving.  In  such  cases,  it  is  only  when 
the  instrument  of  those  blessings  is  removed,  that  men  awake 
to  a  true  sense  of  their  indebtedness,  or  give  free  vent  to  the 
emotions  which  had  been  silently  growing  into  strength 
within  them.  It  was  so  in  the  present  case.  Although  he 
was  a  well-read  divine,  yet  he  was  most  emphatically  a  man 
of  action.  In  this  character,  too,  the  Christian  world  knew 
him  widely,  and  widely  appreciated  the  great  value  ol"  his 
services  ;  yet  it  was  not  till  he  was  gone,  that  it  was  pre- 
pared fully  to  express  its  appreciation,  or  even  fully  to  realize 
the  value  of  what  it  appreciated.  But  when  death  came, 
and  he  no  longer  walked  among  livhig  men,  then  his  true 
worth  was  felt  in  the  distressful  void  produced  :  grief  burst 
forth  on  every,  hand;  and  deep  acknowledgments  to  (xod 
were  made  for  the  rare  blessing  so  long  enjoyed,  so  late 
removed.  The  religious  press,  of  every  Christian  denom- 
ination, and  in  every  part  of  the  country,  spoke  forth  the 
strength  and  fervor  of  the  common  sentiment ;  nor  was  even 
the  secular  press  either  less  prompt  or  less  emphatic  in  its 
utterances.  The  various  societies,  greater  and  smaller,  of 
which  he  had  been  a  member,  met  and  mourned,  and  gave 
published  expressions  of  their  sorrows  and  their  sense  of  loss. 
The  clergy  of  liis  own  church,  of  all  orders  and  of  all  opin- 


HIS  MINISTEY.  497 

ions,  united  in  heart-felt  tributes  to  his  memory  and  his 
worth.  The  great  anniversaries  in  New  York,  which  oc- 
curred soon  after  his  death,  spread  throughout  Protestant 
Christendom  the  loud  wail  of  sorrow  for  the  dead,  and  the 
equally  loud  note  of  gratitude  to  God  that  the  dead  had  hved. 
The  pulpit,  especially  of  the  Episcopal  church,  gave  voice  in 
cities  and  in  villages  to  the  universal  feeling ;  and  in  many 
of  the  religious  periodicals  of  the  country,  obituaries  of  vari- 
ous length  swelled  the  testimony  of  the  day  to  the  truth, 
that  a  greatly  good  and  a  greatly  useful  Christian  had  gone 
to  his  rest.  And  finally,  private  letters  and  official  commu 
nications,  from  individuals  and  from  societies,  poured  into 
the  bosom  of  the  bereaved  household,  in  unstinted  measure, 
the  healing  balms  of  sympathy  and  of  a  just  appreciation  of 
the  character  and  services  of  its  departed  head. 

The  attempt  to  collect  what  was  thus,  in  various  forms, 
done  and  said  and  published,  would  of  itself  require  a  vol- 
ume ;  and  therefore  will  not  here  be  made.  For  this  place 
the  foregoing  allusions  will  suffice. 

The  funeral  took  place  on  Friday,  at  four  o'clock,  P.  M., 
and  was  a  most  affecting  and  solemn  ceremony.  "  So  in- 
tense," says  one  of  the  published  notices  of  the  event,  "  was 
the  desire  on  the  part  of  the  public  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of 
respect  to  his  memory,  that  the  galleries  of  St.  George's 
church  were  filled  some  hours  before  the  time  announced  for 
the  interment ;  and  so  soon  as  the  doors  Avere  opened,  and 
the  coffin  was  carried  into  the  church,  the  spacious  building 
was  filled  to  overflowing.  Among  those  present,  were  clergy- 
men of  nearly  every  denomination,  including  most  of  those 
belonging  to  the  Episcopal  church,  the  respective  Boards 
of  the  American  and  New  York  Bible  Societies,  the  Tract 
Society,  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Institution,  and  all  the  pupils." 
"  The  church  was  apparelled  in  deep  mourning,  and  the  chan- 
deliers were  veiled  in  black  crape."  "  The  choir  sung  the 
anthem,  '  Vital  Spark  of  heavenly  flame ;'  and  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Tyng  delivered  the  funeral  address — often  laboring  under 


498  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILKOR. 

deep  emotion,  only  repressed  with  great  effort ;  and  many  of 
both  sexes  wept  nearly  the  whole  time  of  its  delivery," 

A  similar  scene  was  presented  the  next  Smiday  morning, 
when  the  funeral  sermon  was  delivered.  In  that  scene,  it 
is  true,  there  were  no  public  representatives  of  either  eccle- 
siastical or  benevolent  organizations,  and  the  sentiment 
which  prevailed  was  somewhat  sobered  in  its  tone  by  the 
fact  that  ^' the  narrow  house''  of  the  dead  was  no  longer 
visible  to  the  eye.  But  the  house  of  God/ was  similarly 
crowded,  and  a  sacredly  tender  solemnity  breathed  over  the 
great  congregation,  and  through  the  affecting  services  of  the 
morning ;  as  if  it  were  a  consciousness,  that  though  the 
form  of  the  holy  dead  was  sleeping  beneath,  yet  his  spirit 
was  still  hovering  above,  and  holding,  deep-felt,  with  his  sor- 
rowing  friends,  the  mystic  "  communion  of  saints." 

His  remains  repose  beneath  the  chancel  from  which  he 
so  often  delighted  to  dispense  the  symbols  of  his  Saviour's 
love ;  while  in  the  recess,  on  a  lofty  base,  rises  a  beautiful 
marble  bust,  which  by  its  faithful  likeness,  speaks  continu- 
ally to  long-lived  feelings  of  love  and  veneration  in  the  hearts 
of  his  survivino:  and  affectionate  flock. 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  499 


PAET  VI. 

RETROSPECT   OF   DR.   MILNOR'S  LIFE   AND 
CHARACTER. 


All  that  now  remains  to  be  done,  in  giving  to  the  world 
the  life  of  this  faithful  servant  of  Christ,  is  to  present  some 
general  views  of  his  position,  influence,  and  character,  upon 
which,  during  the  progress  of  the  work,  it  has  not  been  con- 
venient to  dwell.  Upon  several  points,  little  could  be  said 
with  effect  before '  reaching  the  termination  of  his  course. 
They  are  seen  to  better  advantage  in  looking  back,  and 
regarding  them  as  fixed  pomts,  than  in  looking  at  them  by 
the  way,  and  regarding  them  as  moving  points.  There  are 
several  things  which  run  through  his  Christian  and  ministe- 
rial life,  and  being  chiefly  of  uniform  tenor,  present  few  occa- 
sions for  special  remark  ;  but  which,  when  seen  in  their  com 
pleteness,  as  each  a  whole,  well  deserve  particular  considera- 
tion. Whatever  was  special  in  the  matters  to  which  refer- 
ence is  here  made,  has  received  sufficiently  special  notice  in 
passing.  Hence,  to  general  views  only  is  the  reader's  atten- 
tion now  to  be  directed. 

I.  DR.  MILNOR'S  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  AMERICAN 
BIBLE  SOCIETY. 

This  connection  was  formed  almost  contemporaneously 
with  his  entrance  upon  the  ministry,  was  based  on  principle, 
and  was  therefore  consistently  and  perseveringly  maintain- 
ed. The  principle  on  which  he  acted  in  his  early  and  con- 
tinued connection  with  that  great  institution,  may  be  thus 
unfolded. 

He  regarded  all  bodies,  professedly  Christian,  who  hold 
the  Bible  as  their  rule  of  faith,  on  the  ground  of  its  divine 
inspiration  and  authority,  as,  in  some  valid  sense,  parts  of 


600  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

the  visible  Church  of  Christ.  He  was  not  of  the  number 
of  those  who  Hmit  the  boundaries  of  this  Church,  so  as  to 
include  those  millions  only  which  are  covered  by  an  episco- 
pally  constituted  ministry  and  government,  and  who  conse- 
quently regard  the  remaining  millions  of  Christians,  so  called, 
as  neither  churches,  nor  parts  of  the  Church,  but  as,  in  their 
collective  states,  certain  nameless  monstrosities,  engendered, 
amid  the  outer  darkness  of  the  world,  by  the  few  rays  of 
light  which  have  happened  to  straggle  beyond  the  favored 
pale  of  privilege.  On  the  contrary,  he  looked  upon  these 
millions  as  lying  within  that  pale  ;  as  in  the  Church,  and  of 
the  Church ;  as  being,  many  of  them,  highly  illuminated, 
and  as  animated  with  much  of  the  best  life  and  power  of  the 
gospel  of  Christ.  Taking  this  view,  he  held  that  there  is  a 
UNITY  which  reaches  and  incliides  all  who  are  thus  distui- 
guished — a  unity  which  holds  in  oke  visible  whole  all  the 
particular  members  of  Christ  on  earth.  Of  this  unity,  there- 
fore, he  held  that  there  ought  to  be,  especially  among  Prot- 
estants, some  visible  expression,  some  recognized  badi^e. 
This  visible  expression,  this  recognized  badge,  so  far  as  our 
country  is  concerned,  he  could  find  nowhere  more  appropri- 
ately than  in  the  union  of  Christians  of  diflercnt  names  in 
THE  American  Bible  Society,  an  institution  whose  sole 
work  is  to  prepare  and  circulate  through  the  world  the  simple 
standard  of  their  common  faith,  hope,  and  practice.  The 
question  with  him  was  not  so  much  w^iether  such  a  union 
were  at  present  literally  practicable  and  harmoniously  main- 
tainable, as  whether  it  were  not  desirable,  and  ought  not,  as 
far  and  as  fast  as  possible,  to  be  realized :  whether  it  were 
not,  in  the  highest  sense,  important  to  the  efficiency,  the 
growth,  the  best  interests  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Answer- 
ing this  questiori  as  his  soberest  Christian  judgment  con- 
strained him  to  answer  it,  the  decision  left  nothing  in  him 
for  doubt,  wavering,  or  hesitation.  He  gave  to  such  a  union 
his  unqualified  allegiance ;  and  it  was  one  of  the  great 
works  of  his  Christian  life  to  embody,  illustrate,  and  extend 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  501 

the  practicability,  the  benefits,  and  the  blessedness  of  living 
ill  so  divine  a  bond. 

Entering  this  union,  then,  with  such  views,  the  question, 
naturally  arises.  What  were  the  position  which  he  held,  the 
influence  which  he  exerted,  and  the  labors  which  he  perform- 
ed, in  connection  with  the  American  Bible  Society  ?  To 
this  question,  an  answer  in  part  may  be  drawn  from  the  fore- 
going narrative  of  his  ministerial  life.  But  an  answer  in  full 
requires  a  farther  statement.  And,  happily,  with  the  mate- 
rials for  such  a  statement  we  have  been  furnished  by  the 
excellent  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Society,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Brigham,  so  long  one  of  the  worthy  associates  of  Dr. 
Milnor  in  the  conduct  of  the  institution.  The  materials  fur- 
nished by  Dr.  Brigham  are,  indeed,  but  a  summary.  In  the 
following  statement,  therefore,  they  will  be  used  without 
strict  confinement  to  the  language  in  which  they  have  been 
communicated.  They  are  valuable  for  the  dates  and  facts 
which  they  certify,  and  for  the  views  of  character  which,  as 
the  result  of  long  and  familiar  intercourse,  they  express. 

"This  distinguished  man  became  interested  in  the  cause 
of  the  Bible  before  his  removal  from  Pennsylvania  ;  and  his 
interest  there  was  strongly  favored  by  the  well-known  views 
of  his  beloved  diocesan,  Bishop  White.  Upon  his  settlement 
in  New  York,  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1816,  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society  had  been  but  a  few  months  in  existence. 
He  lost  no  time  in  connecting  himself  with  it  as  an  active 
member ;  and  continued  to  labor  in  its  service  until  the  very 
week  of  his  decease. 

"In  1819  he  was  appointed  Domestic  Secretary;  an 
office  which  involved  an  active  correspondence  with  the 
various  branches,  auxiliaries,  and  agents  of  the  institution 
throughout  the  United  States.  In  this  capacity  too,  he  pre- 
pared arid  presented  the  fourth  annual  report  of  the  society, 
at  its  anniversary  in  May,  1820  ;  an  able  and  interesting 
document  of  forty- five  octavo  pages.     In  1820  he  was  ap- 


502  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

pointed  Foreign  Secretary,  as  successor  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ma- 
son ;  and  in  this  capacity  he  maintained,  for  many  years,  an 
active  correspondence  with  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society ;  thus  bringing  the  experience  and  counsels  of  that 
great  institution  to  the  aid  of  the  younger  organization  which 
he  represented.  It  was  in  his  capacity  as  Foreign  Secretaiy, 
that  Dr.  Milnor  represented  the  American  Bible  Society  in 
London,  during  the  great  anniversaries  in  the  spring  of  1830. 

"But  his  most  important  services  in  this  cause  were 
rendered,  in  connection  with  committees  and  the  board,  in 
the  transaction  of  business.  For  many  years  he  was  chair- 
man of  the  committee  on  versions  ;  a  committee  whose 
duty  it  was  to  examine  and  certify  the  correctness  of  all  the 
Scriptures  published  and  circulated  in  various  languages,  at 
home  and  abroad.  After  the  publication  of  the  facsimile 
copy  of  '  King  James'  Bible'  in  1837,  he  and  his  associates 
on  the  committee,  aided  by  a  skilful  proof-reader,  compared 
that  issued  by  the  society  with  the  copy  referred  to,  and 
carefully  noted  every  instance  of  change  which  in  the  course 
of  two  centuries  had  occurred.  This,  of  itself,  was  a  labor 
of  no  ordinary  magnitude,  and  resulted  in  giving  to  the  soci- 
ety a  STANDARD,  for  which  all  its  members  and  friends  should 
be  grateful. 

"  For  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life.  Dr.  Milnor  was  also 
chairman  of  the  committee  charged  with  the  duty  of  making 
arrangements  for  the  successive  anniversaries  of  the  society ; 
and  it  was  on  business  with  this  committee  that  he  rilade 
his  last  visit  to  the  Bible-house.  At  this  meeting  the 
arrangements  for  the  twenty-ninth  anniversary  were  com- 
pleted ;  the  speakers  were  engaged,  the  place  of  meeting  for 
the  anniversary  was  secured,  and  all  things  were  ready. 
But  when,  a  few  days  afterwards,  the  anticipated  gathermg 
of  the  friends  of  the  Bible  took  place,  he,  who  had  done  so 
much  towards  giving  shape  and  order  to  the  proceedings, 
was  not  there.  He  had  been  called  from  his  willing  labors, 
and  had  entered  on  his  gracious  reward." 


RETROSPECT  OF  IIIS   LIFE.      ^  503 

The  following  is  the  notice  of  his  character  and  services 
which  the  Board  of  Managers  took  in  their  twenty-ninth 
report : 

"  Within  a  few  days,  one  who  had  been  a  devoted  fel- 
low-laborer, and  was  chairman  of  the  committee  to  make 
arrangements  for  this  anniversary,  has  been  called  in  a  mo- 
ment from  his  associates,  leaving  a  vacancy  in  the  society 
which  few  or  none  can  fill.  It  may  not  be  improper  to 
record,  with  more  minuteness,  some  of  the  qualities  which 
rendered  Dr.  Milnor  so  peculiarly  useful  in  this  institution. 

"  One  quality  was  his  familiarity  with  business.  Hav- 
hig  been  trained,  in  early  life,  to  the  legal  profession,  and 
for  many  years  engaged  in  it,  as  well  as  occupied,  to  some 
extent,  in  legislative  proceedings,  he  was  prepared  often- 
times to  render  a  service  here  which  ordinary  clergymen 
could  not.  On  questions  connected  with  finance,  making  of 
contracts,  charitable  bequests,  and  rules  of  order,  his  coun- 
sels were  often  of  great  service. 

"  Another  quality  was  his  candor,  or  freedom  from  jorej- 
ndice.  In  a  body  like  this,  composed  of  men  educated  and 
trained  under  very  diflering  circumstances,  it  might  be  ex- 
pected that  questions  difficult  of  adjustment  would  some- 
times arise.  Occasionally  they  did  arise.  But  the  deceased 
approached  all  such  questions  with  a  frankness,  sincerity, 
and  kindness  of  manner  which  secured  the  confidence  of  his 
associates,  making  them  feel  that  truth  and  right  were  the 
only  objects  of  his  aim.  All  listened  with  candor  to  what 
he  proposed.  His  open  and  courteous  demeanor  in  this  body, 
for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  has  had  much  to  do 
in  promoting  that  harmony  and  mutual  confidence  which  so 
generally  prevail  in  its  deliberations. 

"  Another,  and  a  crowning  quality,  was  his  scriptural 
and  catholic  piety.  While  he  was  sincerely  and  avowedly 
attached  to  the  pecuharities  of  his  OAvn  denomination,  he 
could  rejoice  in  discovering  the  image  of  Christ  under  any 
outward  form ;  and  where  he  could  consistently,  h©  united 


604  .        MEMOIR  OF  DP..  MILNOU. 

with  those  who  bore  that  image,  in  difTusing,  among  the 
ignorant  and  perishing,  the  blessings  of  a  common  Chris- 
tianity. In  the  Bible  cause,  this  noble,  fraternal  spirit  had 
ample  scope.  Having  one  common  book  to  prepare  and  cir- 
culate— and  that  the  divine  book — and  receiving  it  heartily 
as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  he  could 
labor  with  his  might  for  its  diflusion  ;  and,  to  enlarge  the 
measure  of  success,  could  unite  with  all  who  held  it  in  like 
estimation,  and  thus  aim,  if  possible,  to  impart  its  light  to 
every  benighted  creature. 

"  dualities  like  these,  united  with  a  rare  cheerfulness 
and  urbanity  of  manners,  not  only  rendered  the  deceased 
of  great  service  to  this  institution,  but  made  him,  at  the 
same  time,  one  of  the  most  endeared  of  friends.  There  is 
no  one  of  his  associates  but  feels  that  he  has  sustjfined  a  per- 
sonal loss,  and  all  will  cherish  in  sweet  remembrance  the 
bright  example  which  has  been  so  long  before  them." 

Thus  far  the  annual  report.  The  following  remarks  by 
Dr.  Brigham  are  in  the  same  spirit :  "I  became  connected 
with  the  society  in  182G,  young  and  inexperienced.  I  felt 
the  need  of  much  counsel,  and  sought  it  from  those  who 
had  been  long  connected  with  the  board.  AS  Dr.  Milnor 
still  performed  many  of  the  duties  of  foreign  secretary',  and 
was  chairman  of  one,  and  sometimes  of  two  standing  com- 
mittees, I  was  led,  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  to  seek  his 
advice.  I  was,  at  times,  obhged  to  call  on  him  when  he 
was  pressed  with  business,  and  more  than  once  or  twice  to 
see  him  in  his  sick  room,  and  in  more  or  less  pain.  Yet  in 
all  my  interviews  with  him,  I  never  found  him  irritable  or 
repulsive,  but  ever  kind,  afi'able,  and  ready  to  do  all  in  his 
power  to  solve  my  doubts,  and  help  on  the  good  cause  in 
which  we  were  engaged. 

"  On  committees  he  was  ever  punctual,  courteous,  intel- 
ligent, and  of  course  influential ;  and  it  was  always  felt,  by 
his  associates,  to  be  a  pleasure  thus  to  labor  with  him  in 
their  great  common  cause. 


RETEOSPECT   OF   HIS   LIFE.  505 

"  One  noble  trait  in  his  character  I  early  noticed,  and 
have  often  had  occasion  to  admire  ;  I  mean  his  candor,  his 
readiness  to  recognize  and  follow  truth,  wherever  and  when- 
ever discerned,  without  inquiring  what  this  or  that  man  or 
party  would  say.  I  have  seen  him,  after  earnestly  defend- 
ing one  side  of  a  question,  find,  on  presentation  of  evidence, 
that  he  had  been  mistaken ;  and  then,  with  a  disinterested 
frankness,  say  that  he  saw  reason  to  change  his  views  and 
his  vote.  I  have  seen  him  do  this  when  very  few  would 
have  done  so,  although  all  were  constrained  to  admire  his 
course.  This  sincere,  cathoUc  spirit  of  his  has  had  much  to 
do  in  giving  harmony  to  the  operations  of  the  board ;  and 
my  hope  is,  that  a  remembrance  of  his  example  will  long 
exert  a  salutary  influence." 

It  is  of  course  impossible,  from  so  brief  a  statement  as 
the  foregoing,  even  with  the  aid  of  what  has  been  said  in 
earlier  pages  of  the  Memoir,  to  estimate  truly  the  amount 
of  labor  which,  in  the  course  of  nine  and  twenty  years,  must 
have  been  performed  by  so  active  and  ever-punctual  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Bible  Society.  But  although  the  amount  of  his 
labors  may  not  be  easily  estimated,  yet  the  importance  of 
his  position,  and  the  dignity  with  which  he  maintained  him- 
self in  it,  may  without  difficulty  be  apprehended.  In  that 
position,  indeed,  he  was  strongly  assailed  by  influences  which 
it  was  most  difficult  to  resist.  But  he  stood  firm  till  the 
«torm  of  opposition  and  obloquy  had  spent  its  force,  and 
then  for  long  years  calmly  maintained  his  standing  amid  the 
sunshine  of  general  favor ;  Christians  of  all  Protestant  names 
admiring  his  consistency  and  his  constancy,  and  multitudes 
of  his  own  denomination  in  particular,  rallying  round  him 
m  the  heavenly  cause  of  union  for  the  dissemination  of  the 
pure  word  of  God.  In  this  latter  respect  his  influence  was 
precious.  To  his  quiet  perseverance  the  Episcopal  church 
owes  much  of  its  present  interest  in  the  cause  of  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society.     Had  he  quailed  before  the  stern  frown 

Mem.  Milnor.  22 


506  MEMOm  OF  DU.  MILNOR. 

of  opposition,  spirits  of  feebler  nerve  would  never  have  ven- 
tured to  meet  the  intimidation.  But  he  lived  long  enough 
to  see  that  frown  die  of  self-exhaustion ;  and  now  the  cause 
has  a  hold  on  our  church  Avhich  cannot  easily  be  broken. 
Henceforth,  it  is  opposition  that  will  be  afraid  to  take  its 
stand  in  public.  It  may  murmur  in  private,  but  it  is  too 
feeble  for  overt  acts.  The  cause  of  union,  the  union  of 
Christian  hearts  and  labors,  without  any  sacrifice  of  essential 
principles,  is  incalculably  indebted  to  the  dignified  stand  so 
firmly  taken  and  so  calmly  held  by  the  late  rector  of  St. 
George's. 

II.   DR.  MILNOH'S  CONNECTION  WITH   THE   AMERI- 
CAN  TRACT  SOCIETY. 

This  was  but  the  consistent  carrying  out  of  the  principle 
involved  in  his  connection  with  the  American  Bible  Society. 
If  the  Bible  contain  the  whole  of  a  common  Christianity, 
and  be  the  only  infallible  standard  of  its  truths,  so  as  to 
render  a  union  of  Christians  for  the  distribution  of  the  Bible 
desirable  and  practicable,  and  at  the  same  time  a  suitable 
visible  expression  of  the  unity  which  reaches  and  includes 
all  really  Bible  Christians,  then  certainly  there  must  be  a 
unity  which  extends  to  a  still  further  point.  A  unity  which 
includes  those  who  recognize  the  Bible  as  their  only  standard 
of  infairible  authority,  clearly  supposes  that  there  is,  in  the 
Bible,  a  body  of  truths  or  doctrines  which  are  held  and  cher- 
ished, if  not  by  all  who  call  themselves  Christians,  yet  by 
all  who  really  are  Christians ;  that  these  truths,  or  doctrines, 
however  men  may  diiler  about  other  things  in  the  Bible,  are 
certainly  discoverable  ;  that  the  unity  of  true  Christians,  in 
holding  them,  is  not  a  vision  of  something  that  ov.ght  to  be, 
but  a  verity  that  actually  exists  ;  and  that,  therefore,  of  this 
unity  also  there  ought  to  be  some  visible  expression,  some 
recognized  badge.  This  expression  and  badge,  then,  of  the 
unity  of  all  true  Christians  in  holding  the  essential  and  vital 
truths  or  doctrines  of  a  common  Christianity,  are  what  the 
organization  ^{  the  Amorican  Tract  S€>ciQty  was  designed  t» 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  507 

furnish.  This  institution  is  organized  on  the  principle  of 
publishing  and  circulating  those  truths  only  which  all  evan- 
gelical Christians  agree  in  regarding  as  vital ;  that  is,  essen- 
tial to  salvation,  or  sufficient,  when  blessed  by  the  Spirit, 
and  received  into  the  faith  of  the  heart,  to  insure  the  salva- 
tion of  all  who  thus  receive  them.  The  institution  is  based 
on  two  great  axioms  in  Christian  ethics  :  1.  That  it  is  idle 
to  expect  that  all  true  Christians  will  think  exactly  alike, 
or  adopt  precisely  the  same  opinions  on  all  external,  or  even 
all  subordinate  internal  points  of  the  Christian  system.  2. 
That  it  is  worse  than  idle,  it  is  disastrous  to  the  best  hopes 
of  the  gospel,  to  allow  the  divisions  which  have  taken  place 
upon  external,  or  upon  subordinate  internal  points  of  Chris- 
tianity, to  run  into  total  and  hostile  separations,  so  as  to 
leave  no  visible  sign  or  badge  of  the  unity  which  really 
exists  in  matters  both  internal  and  essential,  marking  all 
true  Christians  as  one  saved  body  in  Christ.  Such  is  the 
standing  point  of  the  American  Tract  Society.  It  leaves  all 
Christians  unmolested  in  their  opinions,  and  support  of  opin- 
ions, on  points  not  fundamental,  and  seeks  the  union  of  all 
true  Christians  under  at  least  one  outward  sign  and  badge 
of  their  real  unity  in  whatever  is  essential  or  sufficient  to 
salvation.  In  dignity  and  value,  beauty  and  loveliness,  it  is 
twin  sister  to  the  Bible  Society ;  second  in  birth,  and  only 
second  in  its  claims  to  profound  affection  and  regard. 

Dr.  Milnor  felt  all  this  in  the  deepest  sensibilities  of  his 
renewed  nature.  He  saw  Christians  of  various  names  ac- 
knowledging one  Bible,  yet  wanting  something  visible  and 
tangible  to  show  that  they  all  belonged  to  one  and  the  same 
body  of  Christ.  The  moment,  therefore,  the  plan  of  the 
American  Tract  Society  was  submitted  to  him  in  his  sick 
room,  in  the  winter  of  1825,  just  after  he  began  his  return 
from  the  brink  of  the  grave,  he  adopted  it  with  the  freest, 
fullest  action  of  his  feelings  and  his  judgment,  inserted  per- 
manent modifications  into  its  constitution,  and  identified 
himself  for  life  with  its  founders,  its  history,  and  its  fortunes. 


508  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

An  account  of  these  incidents  lias  already  been  given,  but  of 
all  that  followed  little  or  nothing  has  yet  been  said.  Dr. 
Milnor's  labors  in  the  Tract  Society  were  even  more  abun- 
dant than  those  in  the  Bible  cause.  Its  faithful  Secretary, 
however,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hallock,  who  laid  the  plan  of  the 
society  before  Dr.  Milnor  in  his  sick  room,  and  who  contin- 
ued to  labor  with  him  until  his  death,  has  furnished  us  with 
the  materials  for  such  a  statement  as  is  needed  to  bring  out 
this  part  of  the  Memoir  into  proper  distinctness. 

"New  York,  Jan.  29,  1846. 
«  REV.  DR.  STONE  : 

"Respected  and  dear  Sir — I  present  you  herewith  cop- 
ies of  letters  and  documents  written  by  Dr.  Milnor,  to  which 
you  may  wish  to  refer  in  preparing  his  Memoir.  They  may 
serve  as  way-marks  of  his  labors  for  twenty  years  in  connec- 
tion with  the  American  Tract  Society.  But  what  he  did 
and  desired  for  this  institution  better  appears  in  its  nearly 
twelve  hundred  publications,  stereotyped  under  his  sanction, 
together  with  two  thousand  approved  for  circulation  in  for- 
eign lands ;  in  the  spread  of  the  Society's  influence  in  this 
and  other  countries  ;  and  in  the  multitudes  already,  by  these 
means,  brought  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  established 
in  the  hope  of  their  eternal  salvation.  It  is  more  fully 
written  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  so  long  and  so  happily 
cooperated  with  him  m  these  works  of  Christian  beneficence. 
But  it  is  fully  known  to  God  only,  who  saw  every  impulse 
of  his  benevolent  heart,  listened  to  every  prayer  which  he 
ofiered  for  divine  direction,  and  watched  every  hour  of  the 
consecration  of  his  active  and  finely  balanced  mind  to  the 
great  results  already  achieved,  and  destined,  as  we  trust, 
long  to  bless  our  revolted  world.  In  reference  to  this  object, 
his  course  was  one  and  the  same  from  the  hour  when  it  was 
first  proposed  to  him,  to  that  in  which  God  called  him  to 
rest  with  his  Redeemer  above. 

"  The  impressions  made  on  my  mind,  at  my  first 'inter- 
view during  liis  illness,  were  but  deepened  by  his  uniform 


EETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  509 

course  through  twenty  years.  Knowing  the  pressure  of  his 
public  duties,  I  felt  bound  not  needlessly  to  engross  a  mo- 
ment of  his  time.  But  his  ear  was  ever  open.  If  the  cause 
of  Christ  demanded  either  counsel  or  labor,  he  was  ready  to 
give  it ;  and  I  can  truly  say,  that  in  all  he  counselled  and 
all  he  did,  a  supreme  desire  to  honor  the  Redeemer  by  the 
advancement  of  his  kingdom  in  the  eternal  welfare  of  men, 
and  a  desire  cordially  to  unite  evangelical  Christians  of  every 
name  in  the  work  of  God,  seemed  the  predominant  motives 
of  his  heart.  I  think  it  no  disparagement  to  any  other  man, 
living  or  dead,  to  say,  that  I  know  of  no  one  who  exceeded 
Dr.  Milnor  in  genuine  catholic  feeling.  Perhaps  few,  if  any, 
ever  did  so  much  to  bind  together  truly  evangelical  Chris- 
tians. He  himself  was  a  bond  that  united  thousands.  His 
piety  towards  God  and  his  love  towards  man  were  deep  and 
enduring  ;  and  his  aflection  for  the  great  foundation-truths  of 
the  gospel,  of  vital  godliness,  of  the  religion  that  humbles  man, 
exalts  God,  and  trusts  in  nothing  but  atoning  blood  and  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  was  stronger  than  death. 

"  Every  important  measure  adopted  by  the  Society  pre- 
vious to  his  demise,  passed  under  his  sanction,  and  received 
his  cordial  concurrence.  Every  annual  report  was  prepared 
under  his  supervision,  and  every  anniversary  was  honored  by 
his  presence,  except  the  report  and  the  anniversary  for  1 830, 
when  he  went  a  delegate  to  the  London  Tract  Society.  His 
public  addresses  had  a  powerful  interest ;  and  if  any  new 
modes  of  operation  or  other  subjects  of  importance  were  to 
be  presented,  the  duty  was  usually  devolved  on  him,  and  was 
in  all  cases  most  acceptably  and  successfully  performed.  His 
talents  for  business,  and  for  presiding,  whether  at  large  de- 
liberative meetings,  or  in  the  small  committee;  his  intuitive 
discernment  of  propriety ;  his  promptness  in  decisions ;  his 
facihty  and  despatch  in  reaching  desired  results  ;  his  dignity, 
mingled  with  sweetness,  and  sometimes  almost  playfulness 
of  manner;  his  uniform  kindness  and  courtesy,  and  far- 
reaching  benevolence,  rendered  his  presence  always  attrac- 


510  MEMOm  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

tive,  and  won  him  the  love  and  the  confidence  of  all  who 
cooperated  with  him. 

"As  an  illustration  of  the  reference  to  his  'sweetness 
and  almost  playfulness  of  manner,'  when  presiding  on  com- 
mittees, the  following  incident  occurs  to  memory.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee,  when  a  letter  from  the 
Hon.  Peter  Browne,  her  majesty's  charge  d'afikires  at  Co- 
penhagen, had  been  read,  expressing  the  most  evangelical 
and  catholic  sentiments,  *  I  presume,'  said  the  chairman, 
'that  the  writer  of  that  letter  must  be  an  Episcopalian; 
tirst,  from  his  orthodoxy,  and  second,  from  his  love  of  Chris- 
tian unimi!'  There  was  a  mingled  gravity  and  pleasantry 
perfectly  intelligible  in  his  manner,  wliich  very  happily  re- 
minded the  circle  of  the  confidence  and  Christian  union 
which  they  were  themselves  enjoying. 

'*  He  manifested  to  the  last  a  growing  attachment  to  the 
Society;  and  perhaps  no  man  ever  presided  so  long  over 
committees  so  unanimous,  and  united  by  so  sacred  a  bond. 
I  think  it  is  a  fact,  that  he  never  heard  *nay'  but  in  one 
single  instance,  to  any  question  which,  as  chairman  of  the 
Tract  Society's  committees,  he  put,  during  the  whole  course 
of  his  twenty  years'  connection  with  them ;  and  in  that  in- 
stance the  resolutions  were  reconsidered,  and  a  unanimous 
result  reached. 

"  As  chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee,  his  counsel 
was  sought  on  all  important  questions  coming  before  them ; 
and  as  chairman  of  the  Publishing  Committee,  residing  near 
the  Society's  house,  and  with  the  promptness  and  facility 
in  business  alluded  to,  almost  every  publication  examined, 
went  to  him  first ;  and  as  those  which  he  judged  unworthy 
of  further  examination  were  not  sent  to  the  other  members, 
he  had  a  larger  share  of  reading  than  the  rest.  Generally, 
he  completed  the  examinations  at  the  earliest  practicable 
hour ;  wrote  his  decisions  in  neat  notes,  that  might  be  at 
hand  when  the  committee  should  meet  for  final  action,  or 
that  would  be  available  in  case  of  liis  sudden  death,  or 


RETHOSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  511 

providential  absence ;  and  promptly  returned  the  books  or 
manuscripts,  that  those  which  were  to  be  read  by  others 
might  be  transmitted  without  needless  delay.  At  the  hour 
of  his  death,  two  such  notes  were  actually  in  the  Society's 
house,  prepared  for  meetings  which  he  did  not  live  to  at- 
tend ;  and  one  of  the  two  was  a  renewed  and  noble  expres- 
sion of  his  catholic  feeling. 

"  Near  the  close  of  his  life,  occurred  an  incident  as  in- 
teresting and  as  tender  as  any  thing  in  the  incipient  stages 
of  the  Society's  existence. 

"  A  highly  respectable  delegation  from  the  committee  of 
the  branch  American  Tract  Society  at  Boston,  spent  three 
days  with  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Society  in  New 
York,  carefully  considering  the  facts  of  its  history,  and  the 
principles  on  which  its  operations  had  been  conducted.  Al- 
most the  first  murmur  of  complaint  against  the  Society  had 
recently  been  heard ;  and  it  seemed  to  assume  the  form  of 
a  question  whether  the  Society's  publications  and  aims  were 
thoroughly  and  soundly  spiritual  and  evangelical.  This  led 
to  a  review  of  the  principal  facts  in  the  Society's  history, 
and  of  the  aims  and  motives  by  which  the  members  of  the 
committee  had  been  governed ;  and  called  up  the  most  ten- 
der recollections  of  what  God  had  done  for  the  Society, 
while  one  and  another  gave  a  narrative  of  the  past  as  it  had 
affected  his  own  mind.  A  large  number  of  the  original  offi- 
cers were  present  ;  and  all  the  scenes  of  twenty  years  pre- 
senting themselves  at  a  glance  to  the  tender  heart  of  our 
beloved  chairman,  more  than  once  excited  emotions  which 
found  relief  in  tears,  and  more  than  once  prompted  him  to 
call  on  some  one  to  address  the  throne  of  grace.  On  the 
morning  of  the  third  and  last  day,  the  first  president  of  the 
Society  unexpectedly  entered  ;  and  addressing  the  chairman, 
adverted  to  the  prayer,  and  hope,  and  ties  of  Christian  love, 
in  which  the  institution  was  founded,  and  to  the  e^ddeut 
smiles  of  God  which  had  attended  all  its  course.  The 
chairman  commenced  a  reply ;  but  overcome  by  tender  recol- 


512  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

lections,  was  obliged  to  sit  down  and  compose  himself  before 
proceeding.  On  that  occasion,  he  reminded  the  circle  around 
him,  that  he  had  often  thought  his  other  and  arduous  du- 
ties might  compel  him  to  relinquish  his  labors  on  the  Pub- 
lishing Committee ;  but  he  now  assured  them,  that  while 
those  labors  should  be  needed,  and  while  God  spared  his 
life,  they  should  not  be  withheld. 

"  But  I  will  not  add.  His  record  is  on  high.  It  cannot 
be  fully  given  here.  It  is  ever  pleasant  to  dwell  on  his 
memory.  God  be  praised  for  what  he  was.  Thousands 
love  the  Society  the  better  for  all  he  did  in  it ;  and  the 
thought  makes  heaven  the  sweeter  to  our  hope,  that  we 
shall  there  join  our  beloved  chairman  in  praising  our  Re- 
deemer with  perfect  hearts  and  unfaltering  tongues.  The 
oiFicial  documents  of  the  Society  bespeak  the  preciousness  ol 
liis  memory  ;  and  God  hath  said  of  such  as  he,  '  They  that 
be  wise,  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament ;  and 
they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness,  as  the  stars  for  ever 
and  ever ' 

"  With  great  respect  and  esteem, 

"  Your  brother  in  Christ, 

"WILLIAM  A.   HALLOCK." 

The  letters  and  documents  which  accompanied  the  above 
valuable  and  acceptable  paper,  are  of  themselves,  as  illus- 
trative of  Dr.  Milnor's  connection  with  the  Tract  Society, 
almost  enough  for  a  volume.  Considering,  therefore,  the 
size  which  the  Memoir  has  already  reached,  it  must  suffice 
to  add  a  small  selection  as  a  sample  of  the  whole. 

In  obedience  to  the  following  instructions,  Dr.  Milnor  per- 
formed very  important  labors  during  his  visit  to  London. 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee,  March  11, 
1830,  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor  be  requested,  in 
his  contemplated  visit  to  London,  to  ascertain,  as  far  as 
practicable,  the  origin  and  history  of  such  of  the  publications 
of  the  Religious  Tract  Society  in  that  city,  as  have  been  re- 


EETE.OSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  513 

printed  by  the  American  Tract  Society  ;  especially  how  far 
such  of  them  as  are  narratives,  are  a  record  oi facts;  and 
also  the  principles  on  which  the  London  Tract  Society  have 
proceeded,  in  relation  to  the  subject  o^  i^smng  fictitioiis  pub- 
lications."    It  was  also 

"  Resolved,  That  Dr.  Milnor  be  requested,  during  his 
travels  abroad,  to  obtain  all  such  information,  and  to  pro- 
cure a  copy  of  such  publications  as,  in  his  opinion,  will  be 
useful  in  the  future  labors  of  this  committee." 

These  instructions,  it  may  be  proper  to  remark,  were 
founded  on  the  principle,  early  adopted  by  the  American 
Tract  Society,  that  religious  fiction  concurs  wdth  ordinary 
novels  in  vitiating  the  taste  and  morals  of  the  age  ;  the  fic- 
tion being  read  less  for  the  valuable  truths  which  it  teaches, 
than  for  the  unhealthy  excitement  which  it  supplies.  On 
this  ground,  the  narrative  tracts  of  our  Society  are  believed 
to  be  well-ascertained  facts  ;  and  in  this  respect,  the  institu- 
tion differs  from  many  of  the  religious  authors  and  institu- 
tions of  the  age,  who  have  not  scrupled  to  employ  fiction  as 
a  vehicle  of  religious  truth.  The  only  apology  for  religious 
fiction  lies  in  the  plea,  that  as  novel-reading  is  an  almost 
universal  indulgence  of  our  times,  it  is  better  that  children 
should  read  those  fictions  which  may  possibly  communicate 
truth,  than  that  they  should  devour  those  which  will  proba- 
bly instil  error.  This,  however,  leaves  out  of  view  the  all- 
important  considerations,  that  religious  fictions,  early  placed 
in  the  hands  of  children,  ordinarily  generate  a  passion  for 
the  mischievous  and  more  exciting  novels  of  the  day  ;  that 
they  thus  become  the  prime  springs  of  corruption  to  their 
Hterary  tastes,  unfitting  their  minds  to  feed  on  more  solid 
and  wholesome  nutriment,  and  stimulating  them  till  they 
become  obese,  or  bloated  by  the  masses  of  trash  which  they 
devour ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Christian  press  to 
counteract,  instead  of  cooperating  with,  one  of  the  most  seri- 
ous evils  that  threaten  the  Christian  Church. 

The  following  notes,  a  few  only  of  the  many  which  might 


514  MEMOIR   OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

be  given,  present  a  view  of  Dr.  Milnor's  position  and  action 
as  chairman  of  the  PubUshing  Committee,  and  are  valuable 
as  embodying  some  of  his  opinions  both  of  authors  and  of 
doctrines. 

"New  York,  April  8,  1839. 

**E,Ev.  Mr.  Hallock — I  have  given  the  tract  of  Dr. 
Alexander,  No.  393,  on  Justification  by  Faith,  an  attentive 
reading  in  its  revised  form.  I  believe  it  to  be  a  conect, 
scriptural,  and  clear  view  of  the  important  doctrine  of  which 
it  treats.  It  forms  a  compendium  of  what  I  have  been 
preaching  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  presents,  as  I 
believe,  the  true  and  only  method  of  a  sinner's  acceptance 
with  God.  What  countless  contentions  would  have  been 
avoided,  if  this  precious  doctrine  had  been  adhered  to  in  all 
the  definiteness  of  the  apostle's  teachings  on  the  subject ; 
and  if  the  pride  of  men  had  not  led  to  so  many  contrivances 
to  find  some  other  way  of  salvation  than  that  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  has  so  clearly  revealed  in  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

"  Your  affectionate  brother  in  the  hopes  of  a  free  and  un- 
adulterated gospel, 

"J.  MILNOR." 

DR.  MILNOR'S  JUDGMENT  OF  LAW'S  SERIOUS  CALL. 

"New  York,  April  8,  1839. 
"REV.  MR.  HALLOCK: 

"  Dear  Brother — I  very  much  question  the  expediency 
of  paying,  as  proposed,  for  the  abridgment  of  this  work. 
There  are,  besides  this,  three  other  abridgments :  one  by  I 
know  not  whom  ;  a  second  by  John  "Wesley ;  and  a  third 
anonymous,  published  by  Hatchard,  London,  in  1814.  I  do 
not  know  whether  they  are  to  be  procured  :  but  perhaps 
they  may,  and  may  be  found  preferable  to  this ;  in  which 
case,  if  it  is  deemed  expedient  for  us  to  publish  it  at  all, 
one  of  them  might  be  used  without  expense  to  us. 

"  Law  was  undoubtedly  a  most  devout  man  ;  and  as 
this  work  was  written  before  he  run  into  the  mysticism  of 
Jacob  Boehmen,  it  is  free  from  the  peculiarities  of  that  sin- 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  515 

gular  man,  and  is,  in  truth,  in  one  view  a  very  useful  book. 
As  an  exhibition  of  the  folly,  sin,  and  danger  of  a  worldly 
life,  and  of  the  superior  wisdom,  excellence,  and  happiness 
of  a  life  of  piety  and  devotion,  it  is  calculated  to  be  practi- 
cally useful  in  a  high  degree.  But  I  am  not  satisfied  with 
the  reason  given,  in  the  preface  to  the  abridgment,  for  his 
not  laying  aright  the  foundation  of  his  intended  superstruc- 
ture. He  is  deficient  in  not  beginning  with  'repentance 
towards  God,  faith  towards  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,'  and  the 
renewal  of  the  heart  by  divine  grace,  as  the  spniig  of  all 
true  rehgion  and  all  practical  holiness.  Hannah  More,  in 
her  '  Strictures  on  Female  Education,'  assigns  Law  the  merit 
of  deep  insight  into  tlie  human  heart,  and  skill  in  probing  its 
corruptions ;  but  she  adds,  '  Yet  on  points  of  doctri7ie,  his 
views  do  not  seem  to  be  just ;  so  that  a  general  perusal  of 
his  works  would  neither  be  profitable  or  intelligible.'  She 
adds,  *  Even  in  the  Serious  Call,  Law  is  not  a  safe  guide  to 
evangelical  light.  As  the  mortified  apostle,  the  holy,  self- 
denying  Baptist,  preaching  repentance  because  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  at  hand,  Mr.  Law  has  no  superior.  As  a 
preacher  of  salvation  on  scriptural  grounds,  I  would  follow 
other  guides.' 

"  As  a  dissuasive  from  a  worldly,  and  an  exhortation  to 
a  religious  life  ;  as  recommending  fervent  and  unwearied  de- 
votion, the  consecration  of  ourselves  and  all  we  have  to  God, 
humihty,  love,  resignation  to  the  divine  will,  etc.,  no  work 
is  superior.  But  the  want  of  the  foundation  to  which  I 
have  referred,  gives  a  self-righteous  aspect  to  the  whole, 
which,  though  lessened  by  the  expunging  of  numerous  par- 
ticular expressions  of  the  most  exceptionable  character,  still 
leaves  it  without  that  evangelical  basis  which  I  wish  all 
our  publications  prominently  to  display. 

"  With  so  much  to  admire  in  a  production  which  Dr. 
Johnson  characterized  as  *  the  first  piece  of  hortatory  the- 
ology in  any  language,'  I  am  far  from  proscribing  it,  or 
denouncing  it  as  a  work  not  to  be  profitably  read  ;  but  con- 


516  '  .MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

sidering  that  there  is  in  it  scarcely  an  allusion  of  a  distinct 
and  decided  character  to  the  great  subject  of  Dr.  Alexander's 
tract" — which  he  had  just  approved — "I  would  say  we 
might  find  other  volumes  better  suited  to  our  evangelical 
library  than  this. 

"  Yours,  affectionately, 

"JAMES  MILNOR." 

The  next  note  refers  to  one  of  the  Tract  Society's  vol- 
umes, entitled  "  Bible  Thoughts,  by  Melvill''  The  volume 
consists  of  selections,  by  Dr.  Milnor,  from  Melvill's  pubUshed 
discourses. 

"New  York,  Sept.  14,  1839. 

"  Eev.  and  dear  Brother — I  have  read  over  all  the 
sheets  of  Melvill ;  and  I  think,  corrected  a  number  of  errors 
that  had  been  overlooked.  With  a  good  margin,  it  will 
make  a  beautiful  volume ;  and  I  am  more  convinced  than 
ever,  by  a  reperusal,  that  our  labor  has  been  well  employed, 
and  by  its  fruits  will  be  well  rewarded,  in  getting  up  this 
delightful  work  in  its  present  form.  I  am  persuaded,  that 
from  the  compactness  of  views  on  the  several  topics  embod- 
ied under  each  head,  and  the  direction  of  the  mind  to  each 
point  by  its  title,  it  is  destined  to  be  more  useful  than  the 
whole  volume,  of  which  it  contains  the  pith  and  substance. 
"  Yours,  truly, 

"  J.  MILNOR." 

"Rev.  Mr.  Hallock." 

ON  PUBLISHING  VENN'S    COMPLETE   DUTY  OF  MAN. 

"New  York,  Aug.  16,  1841. 
"  Rev.  and  dear  Sir — It  is  several  years  since  I  read 
Venn's  Complete  Duty  of  Man  ;  but  it  was  at  a  very  inter- 
esting time  in  my  religious  course,  and  has  ever  since  left  an 
impression  on  my  mind  of  the  great  value  of  the  work.  I 
have  refreshed  my  recollection  now  by  turning  to  some  of  its 
delightful  chapters ;  but  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  detain 
the  book  from  the  perusal  of  our  colleagues.     If  it  commends 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  517 

itself  to  their  approval  as  it  does  to  yours  and  mine,  no  un- 
necessary time  will  be  lost  in  enriching  our  volume  series 
with  it. 

"  I  think  it  right  to  add,  that  this  work — as  well  as  the 
evangelical  preaching  of  its  author — contributed  largely  to 
reintroduce  into  the  established  church,  or  rather  to  revive, 
the  slumbering  spirit  of  the  E,eformation.  Simeon,  and  Par- 
ish, and  Cecil,  and  Scott,  and  the  Milners,  and  Wilson,  and 
a  host  of  others,  have  in  succession  maintained  the  same 
principles.  The  Christian  Observer  and  other  Episcopal 
publications  of  the  same  spirit,  are  walking  in  Venn's  foot- 
steps, and  under  God  will,  I  trust,  form  an  effectual  barrier 
to  the  assaults  on  spiritual  religion,  which  are  now  made 
by  the  more  than  semi-popish  Tractarians  at  Oxford. 

"  J.  MILNOR." 
"  Eev.  Mr.  Hallock." 

In  October,  1842,  a  public  deliberative  meeting  of  the 
board  and  friends  of  the  American  Tract  Society  was  held 
during  most  of  three  days  in  the  Broadway  Tabernacle,  New 
York,  at  the  call  of  the  Executive  Committee,  of  which  Dr. 
Milnor  was  chairman.  This  call  was  influenced  by  a  belief, 
"  that  careful  attention  to  its  several  spheres  of  labor,  and 
discussion  of  the  principles  involved,  would  give  definiteness 
to  the  conceptions  of  many  as  to  its  character  and  objects, 
and  thus  awaken  prayer,  liberality,  and  persevering  effort, 
to  bless  the  world  with  these  means  of  grace."  Among  the 
many  valuable  documents  presented  at  this  meeting,  was  the 
following  from  Dr.  Milnor ;  and  most  fully  does  it  breathe 
the  spirit  which  characterized  and  governed  his  hfe. 

"  THE  HARMONY  OF  THE  SOCIETY'S  PROCEEDINGS. 

"  '  Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  to- 
gether in  unity.' 

"  Among  the  many  interesting  topics  deserving  of  notice 
on  this  extraordinary  assemblage  of  friends  of  the  American 
Tract  Society,  may  be  eminently  ranked  that  of  the  very 


518  MEMOIE.  OF  DR.   MILNOR. 

remarkable  liarinoii)'^  of  feeling  and  action  by  which  its  past 
history  has  been  distinguished.  It  would  be  ungrateful  to 
that  divine  Being  whose  direction,  in  the  management  of  its 
affairs,  has  been  so  constantly  sought  by  its  conductors,  not 
to  recognize,  thankfully  and  devoutly,  his  special  providence,' 
and  the  benignant  guidance  of  his  Holy  Spirit  in  all  the  way 
in  which  he  has  hitherto  brought  us. 

"  The  institution  had  its  basis  in  the  principle  of  broth- 
erly love.  It  was  deemed  possible  for  the  disciples  of  a 
common  Saviour,  honestly  divided  from  each  other  on  some 
points  of  doctrine,  discipline,  and  worship,  and  separated  into 
different  communities,  cordially  to  unite  in  the  dissemination 
of  those  great  truths  of  their  religion  in  which  they  harmo- 
niously concur,  and  which  are  indissolubly  connected  with 
the  eternal  well-being  of  the  soul.  It  was  not  entirely  a 
new  experiment.  Several  small  associations  had  been  pro- 
ductive of  much  good.  In  Great  Britain  a  similar  effort,  on 
a  large  scale,  had  been  attended  with  an  astonishing  measure 
of  success  ;  and  it  may  be  added,  the  great  Society  by  which 
it  has  been  prosecuted  still  maintains  its  harmony,  and  con- 
tinues to  bless  that  country  and  the  world,  through  its  nu- 
merous publications,  with  invaluable  treasures  of  spiritual 
knowledge  and  practical  instruction.  Tract  societies,  both 
here  and  there,  owe  much  of  their  prosperity,  under  the  di- 
vine favor,  to  those  well-considered  principles  of  action  which 
were  adopted  at  the  outset  of  these  undertakings,  as  the  basis 
of  Christian  union. 

"  With  whatever  delight  the  Clii'istian  raind  may  con- 
template the  happy  period,  how  distant  none  can  tell  but  He 
who  '  knows  the  end  from  the  beginning,'  when  on  all  points 
the  followers  of  Christ  shall  see  eye  to  eye,  be  'perfectly 
joined  together  in  the  same  mind,  and  in  the  same  judgment,* 
and  all  unite  under  one  congenial  banner,  it  was  apparent  to 
every  considerate  mind,  that  there  were  existing  differences 
of  opinion  and  practice  among  evangelical  Christians,  which 
in  such  a  combination  must  be  left  untouched.     It  was  to 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  519 

be  ascertained  in  what  doctrines  of  faith  all  of  this  character 
were  agreed ;  and  an  honest  understanding  was  to  be  had, 
that  to  such  their  united  endeavors  M^ere  to  be  imphcitly 
confined.  Happily,  little  difficulty  occurred  in  setthng  these. 
*  Man's  native  sinfulness ;  the  purity  and  obligation  of  the 
law  of  God ;  the  true  and  proper  divinity  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  the  necessity  and  reality  of  his  atonement  and  sac- 
rifice ;  the  efficiency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Avork  of  reno- 
vation ;  the  free  and  full  ofiers  of  the  gospel,  and  the  duty 
of  men  to  accept  it ;  the  necessity  of  personal  holiness,  and 
an  everlasting  state  of  rewards  and  punishments  beyond  the 
grave ' — doctrines  dear  to  the  hearts  of  all  evangelical  Chris- 
tians, were  the  declared  basis  of  our  union.  They  were 
adopted  with  much  deliberation  and  fervent  prayer,  and  they 
have  continued  to  form  the  inspiring  topics  of  more  than  a 
thousand  different  publications,  including  upwards  of  one 
hundred  bound  volumes,  which  it  has  been  our  privilege  to 
issue.  By  a  faithful  adherence  to  these  original  terms  of 
association,  has  harmony  been  uninterruptedly  preserved  for 
the  nineteen  years  and  more  through  which  the  labors  of  this 
institution  have  been  so  happily  conducted. 

"  During  this  period,  no  tract  or  book  has  been  issued  but 
with  the  unanimous  approval  of  all  the  members  of  the  Pub- 
lishing Committee,  consisting  of  a  representative  from  each 
of  the  six  evangelical  denominations  of  Christians.  To 
whatever  extent  any  denomination  may  have  thought  it  a 
duty  to  spread  abroad  a  knowledge  of  its  own  peculiarities, 
this  has  been  its  own  separate  and  exclusive  work  :  we  have 
scrupulously  adhered  to  the  principles  on  which  our  union  is 
based,  and  on  which  its  continuance  depends. 

"  One  great  object,  however,  it  is  believed,  has  been  eftect- 
ed  by  this  exhibition  of  harmonious  action.  Multitudes  have 
become  disposed  to  look  more  at  the  great  principles  of  their 
blessed  religion,  in  which  they  are  all  able  conscientiously 
to  concur,  and  less  on  those  in  which  they  unhappily  difier. 
The  discovery  has  been  satisfactorily  made  of  the  inferiority 


520  MEMOIP.  OF  DP..  MILNOR. 

in  number  and  magnitude  of  the  latter,  compared  with  the 
former.  The  beneficial  example  of  its  divine  Author  has 
become  more  an  object  of  assiduous  imitation.  Where  dis- 
cussion has  been  had  on  subjects  which  are  still  in  dispute 
among  Christians,  less  of  asperity  has  been  seen  in  the  pages 
of  controversy,  and  the  failure  to  convince  an  adversary  has 
not  often  been  followed  by  the  language  of  bitterness  and 
denunciation.  It  has  been  seen  by  Protestant  churches,  that 
just  in  proportion  as  they  present  a  united  front  to  the  as- 
saults of  infidelity  and  error,  and  the  machinations  of  the 
Man  of  Sin,  will  the  citadel  of  their  hopes  stand  firm  and 
uninjured  :  just  as  they  spend  their  strength  in  mutual  con- 
tention, will  their  common  enemies  gain  advantage  over 
them.  It  was  a  happy  step  towards  that  union,  over  the 
continued  subsistence  and  increase  of  which  the  present  oc- 
casion calls  upon  us  so  gratefully  to  rejoice,  when  that  gi*and 
association  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  originated, 
whose  labors  have  given  to  the  world  more  than  fourteen 
million  copies  of  the  volume  of  inspiration,  and  multiplied 
the  means  of  conveying  its  blessed  truths  to  the  nations  ot 
the  earth,  by  translations  into  more  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  of  the  languages  into  which  they  are  divided. 

"  The  establishment  of  Tract  Societies  by  Christians  of 
different  denominations,  was  a  further  advance  in  the  way 
to  that  blessed  consummation  when  all  discord  shall  cease; 
when  the  principles,  and  objects,  and  modes  of  action  among 
Christians  shall  universally  coalesce ;  when  the  genius  and 
spirit  of  the  gospel  shall  unite  their  hearts  in  Christian  love ;' 
Avhen  God  shall  be  adored  as  the  universal  P^ather,  the  world 
become  one  vast  family  of  brethen,  united  to  him  and  one 
another  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  regenerated  by  his  Spirit, 
and  prepared  to  cast  their  crowns  before  the  same  Lord, 
and  rend  the  concave  of  heaven  with  one  harmonious  shout 
of  praise. 

"  In  the  retrospect  of  the  past  doings  of  this  institution 
and  their  results,  they  who  have  been  most  intimately  con- 


EETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  521 

nected  with  its  transactions,  have  reason,  with  a  deep  sense 
of  the  imperfections  of  their  own  agency  therein,  to  exult  in 
multipUed  evident  manifestations  of  divine  favor  towards  it. 
Especially  do  they  rejoice  in  the  dehghtfnl  fact  to  which 
these  remarks  are  intended  to  have  especial  reference — ^the 
preservation,  thus  far,  of  perfect  unity  and  concord  among 
its  officers  and  members,  and  the  confirmation  which  this 
aflbrds  of  every  glowing  anticipation  of  its  friends  as  to  its 
future  progress. 

"  For  the  promotion  of  this  end  let  us  improve  our  pres- 
ent assemblage.  For  this  let  our  united  prayers  ascend  to 
heaven,  and  our  best  endeavors  be  exerted,  A  dutiful  spirit 
should  delight  to  recur  to  the  precepts,  and  a  living  faith  to 
lay  hold  of  the  promises  of  God.  Where  is  one  to  be  found 
among  the  former  which  gives  countenance  to  disunion  and 
discord  ?  Where  is  there  one  among  the  latter  that  assures 
any  recompense  of  blessing  to  a  contentious  and  litigious 
spirit  ?  The  religion  of  Jesus  is  a  religion  of  love.  It  was 
this  hallowed  principle  in  which  the  gospel  originated,  and 
its  too  partial  prevalence  has  been  the  chief  obstacle  to  its 
predicted  universal  sway.  Its  final  success  can  never  obtain, 
until  the  same  mind  is  possessed  by  his  people  that  was  in 
Christ  their  divine  Head,  and  their  combined  and  unembar- 
rassed efforts  are  united  for  his  glory  and  the  salvation  of 
mankind.  A  wide  field  lies  open  before  us.  Millions  of 
heathen  implore,  in  their  destitution,  the  exercise  of  our  be- 
nevolence towards  them.  Other  millions  of  nominal  Chris- 
tians, if  in  their  blindness  they  ask  not,  we  know  need  our 
interposition,  to  pour  into  their  minds  the  light  of  heavenly 
truth,  and  recall  them  to  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ. 
Still  many  a  waste  place  of  our  own  land  reproaches  the 
narrowness  and  lassitude  of  our  exertions;  while  grateful 
multitudes,  in  regions  which  our  efforts  have  availably 
reached,  bless  God  for  that  concentrated  union  of  action 
which  has  sent  them  our  publications  to  light  them  on  their 
way  to  heaven.     Experience  has  proved  that  our  plan  of 


522  MEMOIE,  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

union  in  tliis  work  of  benevolence  is  not  visionary  or  Utopian. 
It  contemplates  no  improper  interference  with  any  of  the  de- 
partments into  which  the  family  of  Christ  is  divided. 

"  Let  no  means  employed  by  individual  churches  for  the 
glory  of  the  Redeemer  and  the  salvation  of  those  for  whom 
Christ  has  died,  be  disregarded  or  esteemed  of  light  impor- 
tance. Let  the  living  ministry  be  respected  as  a  most  hon- 
ored institution,  a  divine  appointment,  having  the  promise 
of  the  Church's  Head  to  the  end  of  time.  Let  each  distinct 
branch  of  the  vast  household  of  faith  employ  the  means  en- 
trusted to  it  by  a  gracious  Providence,  to  promote  the  great 
ends  contemplated  by  divine  mercy  and  goodness  to  our  fallen 
race.  But  let  the  broader  principle  of  united  action,  so  sanc- 
tioned of  God,  so  blessed  in  its  past  results,  so  in  accordance 
with  the  long  cherished  expectation  of  Christian  faitli  and  the 
opening  prospects  of  millennial  glory,  never  be  abandoned. 
0,  it  would  grieve  the  soul  of  charity,  and  throw  a  gloom 
over  the  brightening  prospects  of  futurity,  were  the  sacred 
union  of  Christians,  thus  happily  begun,  and  thus  success- 
fully pursued,  to  be  dissolved,  or  in  any  measure  lessened  or 
impaired.  *  But  it  may  not  be.  The  sacred  bond  must  not 
be  broken.  Withered  be  the  hand  that  would  attempt  its 
severance.  While  any  portion  of  six  hundred  millions  of 
unenlightened  heathen  remain  to  be  brought  into  submission 
to  the  Prince  of  peace ;  while  darkness  broods  over  the  su- 
perstitious churches  of  the  East;  while  papal  Rome  is  seek- 
ing to  extend  her  despotic  sway  over  the  minds  of  men ; 
and  while  multitudes,  not  utterly  beyond  the  influence  of 
gospel  light  and  truth,  are  seen  crowding  the  broad  road 
that  leadeth  to  destruction,  let  Christian  union  be  made  the 
means  of  counteracting  these  mighty  evils.  We  ask  object- 
ors to  a  plan  so  consonant  with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  what 
would  have  been  the  number  of  Bibles  circulated  within  the 
last  thirty-eight  years,  if  sectarian  jealousy  and  rivalsliip  had 
been  successful  in  preventing  the  establishment  of  that  mag- 
nificent monument  of  religious  enterprise,  with  the  thousands 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE  523 

of  its  progeny,  of  the  vast  extent  of  whose  most  laudable 
exertions  we  have  already  spoken ;  and  how  many  precious 
souls  would  have  gone  unblessed  to  their  great  account,  had 
not  the  great  Tract  association  of  Great  Britain,  with  our 
own  and  other  kindred  unions,  disseminated  through  innu- 
merable channels  the  words  of  life  and  salvation  in  the  little 
pamphlet  or  the  more  enlarged  volume  ? 

"  When  we  look  at  the  details  of  spiritual  good  effected 
by  this  joint  cooperation  which  stand  authenticated  and  re- 
corded in  the  annals  of  our  Tract  Society  alone,  and  form  the 
most  moderate  conjecture  of  cases  which  have  never  met  the 
public  eye,  we  are  compelled  to  exclaim,  '  What  hath  God 
wrought  r  And  when  we  are  mourning  over  the  remaining 
bitterness  of  party  spirit  in  the  Church  or  in  the  world,  and 
are  filled  with  grief  that  union  is  not  the  watchword  with 
all  that  love  their  Saviour  and  their  fellow-men ;  and  while 
we  also  join  in  the  lamentations  of  our  associates,  that  the 
means  of  such  extensive  good  as  lies  before  us  are,  by  so 
many  who  profess  highly  to  appreciate  our  object,  injuriously 
withheld ;  we  may  perceive,  amid  all  our  discouragements, 
sources  of  pious  gratulation  for  the  past,  and  of  inspiring  hope 
for  the  future,  that  should  silence  our  complaints,  and  lead 
us  to  trust  in  God  for  an  issue  to  our  labors  for  which  we 
shall  have  reason  to  praise  him  through  eternal  ages." 

The  foregoing  document  may  be  regarded  as  among  the 
last  of  Dr.  Milnor's  public  words  for  the  Tract  cause.  They 
are  glowing  words  ;  and  they  show  that  to  the  end  his  heart 
was  as  full  as  ever  of  what,  at  the  outset,  filled  its  affections 
to  overflowing.  The  Tract  Society  still  holds  its  course.  Its 
operations  have  become  wider  than  ever,  and  still  more  be- 
neficent ;  and  in  all  that  it  is  through  the  instrumentaUty 
of  wise  counsel,  and  in  all  that  it  is  doing  by  the  labors  of 
industrious  toil,  it  doubtless  owes  as  much  to  Dr.  Milnor  as 
to  any  other  man. 

The  present  writer  having  been  appointed  to  succeed  Dr. 


524  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

Milnor  on  the  Executive  and  Publisliing  Committees  of  the 
American  Tract  Society,  has  some  grounds  for  knowing 
whereof  he  affirms.  His  predecessor's  jiame  needs  but  to  be 
mentioned  among  the  band  of  brethren  whom  he  has  left,  to 
show  that  it  is  still,  in  some  sweet  respect,  like  his  Master's, 
"  as  ointment  poured  forth,"  givmg  a  precious  perfume.  He 
can  also  well  appreciate  the  importance  of  Dr.  Milnor's  posi- 
tion, and  the  value  of  his  services,  in  an  institution  whose  re- 
ceipts, equalled  by  its  expenditures,  had  become,  at  the  time 
of  his  decease,  more  than  $150,000  per  annum ;  and  whose 
hallowed  influence  in  the  cause  of  Christian  union  and  of 
man's  salvation,  is  increasingly  felt  in  the  speech  of  difi^ering 
nations,  and  almost  literally  from  end  to  end  of  the  earth. 

III.  DR.  MILNOR'S  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  CAUSE 
OF   EDUCATION. 

Allusions  to  this  have  from  time  to  time  been  made; 
and  yet  an  adequate  impression  of  the  interest  which  he  felt, 
and  of  the  time  which  he  spent  in  this  cause,  might  not  be 
received  without  directing  a  more  special  attention  to  the 
point.  The  additional  remarks  needed,  however,  are  not 
many. 

His  interest  in  the  cause  of  education  was  all-compre- 
hending. It  started  with  the  application  of  Sunday  schools 
to  the  instruction  of  the  most  ignorant  and  needy  classes ; 
and  from  this  passed  up  through  a  care  for  schools  of  every 
grade,  till  it  reached  the  supervision  of  theological  institu- 
tions designed  to  train  men  for  high  service  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven. 

The  parish  church  of  St.  George  being  in  one  of  the 
most  densely  populated  districts  of  the  city,  and  there  being 
always  a  large  number  in  his  congregation,  both  male  and 
female,  who  were  willing  to  become  teachers,  several  dis- 
tinct Sunday-schools — at  one  time  no  less  than  six — were 
sustained  in  his  parish  :  a  body  of  from  four  to  six  hundred 
pupils,  regularly  instructed,  and  much  of  his  own  time  do- 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  525 

voted  to  a  general  supervision  of  the  schools.  These  schools 
were  usually  very  flourishing.  He  was  fond  of  addressing 
children  ;  and  his  facility  in  extempore  speaking  fitted  him 
admirably  for  the  task,  while  his  winning  manners  never 
failed  to  interest  the  subjects  of  his  care.  The  first  Sunday 
afternoon  in  each  month  he  devoted  to  the  examination  of 
the  schools  in  church.  On  these  occasions,-  the  regular 
evening  service  was  read,  and  then  the  examination  was 
begun.  Many  a  child,  through  a  long  life,  and  peradven- 
ture  to  his  soul's  saving,  will  remember  the  mild  blue  eye, 
the  silvery  locks,  and  the  white  robes  of  his  old  pastor,  as 
he  stood  before  the  young  assembly,  and  with  kind  and  gen- 
tle yet  earnest  tones,  bid  each  one  think  upon  his  Creator 
while  he  was  yet  young,  and  before  the  winter  of  life  should 
scatter  its  snows  upon  his  head.  Beautiful  sights  were 
those  :  fathers  and  mothers  bringing  forward  the  firstlings 
of  their  little  flocks  to  be  set  apart  and  nurtured  for  the 
Lord.  The  fidelity  of  this  view  to  truth  is  guaranteed  by 
his  son's  "  E.ecollections,"  who  was  for  many  years  one  of 
his  father's  Sunday-scholars,  and  for  thirty  years  an  ob- 
server of  his  father's  interest  in  Sunday-schools. 

The  common-schools  of  the  state  of  New  York  also 
shared  his  solicitudes.  In  behalf  of  the  American  Tract 
Society,  in  particular,  he  apphed,  in  the  year  1842,  to  the 
Hon.  Samuel  Young,  then  Secretary  of  State,  for  his  sanc- 
tion, as  "  Superintendent  of  common-schools,"  to  the  meas- 
ure of  introducing  into  the  common-school  libraries  of  the 
state,  so  far  as  the  trustees  of  each  school-district  should 
consent,  that  portion  of  the  Tract  Society's  publications 
called  "  the  Youth's  Christian  Library  ;"  believing  that  such 
an  introduction  would  be  "found  of  incalculable  benefit  to 
the  young." 

To  the  higher  educational  institutions  of  the  country  he 
was  an  earnest  friend.  To  Kenyon  college  his  services  were 
invaluable.  From  Bristol  college,  Pennsylvania,  he  hoped 
great  things,  and  labored  zealously  to  realize  his  hopes,  until 


526  MEilOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

measures,  over  which  he  had  no  control,  resulted  in  the  tota) 
loss  of  that  once-cherished  and  favorite  institute.  Of  the 
University  in  the  city  of  New  York  he  was  one  of  the  foun- 
ders, and  for  years,  a  member  of  the  council.  And  when  the 
chapel  in  the  new  university  buildings  was  opened  and  ded- 
icated to  the  relijjious  services  for  which  it  was  desisrned,  he 
officiated  in  the  devotional  exercises  of  the  occasion,  by  the 
offering  of  a  prayer,  which,  in  its  humble  fervor,  and  its 
comprehensive  requests,  told  how  deeply  his  soul  felt  the 
importance  of  education  in  its  classical  and  scientific,  legal 
and  medical  departments,  as  well  as  in  those  which  involve 
more  immediately  the  interests  of  religion. 

And  finally,  with  all  the  leading  theological  seminaries 
of  the  Episcopal  church  he  was  more  or  less  closely  con- 
nected, in  the  capacity  either  of  a  trustee,  or  of  a  patron ; 
though  it  need  not  be  disguised,  that  the  diocesan  school  of 
Virginia  was  that  in  M^hich  his  interest  arose  from  sympathy, 
while  that  in  New  York,  though  a  general  institution  of  our 
church,  awoke  in  him  mainly  the  interest  of  solicitude. 

In  short,  under  whatever  aspect  the  cause  of  learning 
presented  itself  before  his  mind,  he  was  its  enlightened,  effi- 
cient, and  true  friend :  enlightened,  because  he  saw  and 
felt  its  immeasurable  importance  to  the  opening  and  onward 
destinies  of  the  world  ;  ejficieiit,  because  he  cheerfully  de- 
voted time  and  substance  to  its  support ;  and  tnw,  because 
he  realized  most  profoundly  the  necessity  of  baptizing  all 
learning  into  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  Christianity^  in  order 
to  make  it  a  real  and  an  unfailing  blessing  to  the  human 
race. 

IV.    DR.  MILNOR'S  POSITION  IN  THE  EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH. 

Under  this  head  an  interesting  history  might  be  written, 
for  Dr.  Milnor's  relation  to  the  cause  and  the  progress  of 
evangelical  truth  and  piety  in  the  church  of  which  he  was 
a  minister,  was  second  in  importance  to  that  of  no  other 


RETROSPECT  OF   HIS  LIFE.  527 

man.  But  for  the  present,  history  must  be  left  unwritten. 
We  must  content  ourselves  with  something  less  than  even 
annals  of  the  time  through  which  we  have  been  passing. 
Dr.  Milnor's  position  must  be  seen,  but  we  must  be  content 
with  saying  no  more  than  may  be  necessary  to  make  that 
position  evident. 

After  Devereux  Jarratt  and  his  few  evangelical  fellow- 
laborers  left  the  scene  of  their  earthly  labors,  successors  to 
his  spirit  and  in  his  work  appeared  on  the  stage.  Almost 
simultaneously,  Pilmore,  Griswold,  and  Richard  C banning 
Moore  began  to  dispense  the  true  light ;  the  first  in  Phila 
delphia,  the  second  in  Bristol,  R.  I.,  and  the  third  in  New 
York.  Pilmore's  light  seemed  to  radiate  in  lucid  words, 
gathered  into  a  divine  order,  from  the  sacred  page ;  Gris- 
wold's  was  like  that  which  shone  in  his  own  calm,  clear 
eye — as  calm  and  clear  as  ever  unto  the  end ;  and  Moore's 
beamed  through  many  tears,  and  amid  much  vehement 
pleading.  As  we  have  already  seen,  Pilmore's  light  fell, 
with  other  influences,  on  the  mind  of  Milnor.  From  their 
times,  it  would  not  be  easy  to  recall  the  names  of  all  who, 
like  Meade,  and  Bedell,  and  Mcllvaine,  and  Clark,  and 
Johns,  and  Elliott,  have  arisen  to  swell  the  evangelic  bright- 
ness, and  to  deepen,  throughout  our  church,  her  evangelic 
life.  But  all  these  have  been  Milnor's  juniors  ;  and  all,  or 
at  least  all  the  leading  names  upon  the  list,  have  been  ac- 
customed to  look  to  him,  not  as  their  party  champion,  but 
as  their  more  experienced  friend  and  counsellor.  He  was, 
by  common  consent,  not  the  most  highly  gifted  man  in  all 
their  ranks — for  in  learning  and  mental  endowments,  some 
were  his  equals,  possibly  his  superiors — ^but,  from  various 
causes,  the  most  widely  known  and  the  most  largely  influ- 
ential. He  stood  most  in  the  eye  of  the  world.  For  thirty 
years  he  was  at  the  very  point  of  convergence  and  radiation 
of  all  our  great  influences  and  movements.  He  was  at  the 
centre  of  conflict  between  the  evangelical  and  the  anti-evan- 
gelical portions  ©four  church.    Nay,  for  years  h«  was,  in  his 


528  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR.' 

own  person,  the  one  point  against  which  the  most  strenu- 
ous assaults  of  the  latter  were  directed  ;  and  had  he  fallen, 
many  others  would  have  heen  unable  to  stand.  From  sym- 
pathy, as  well  as  from  respect  and  veneration,  there  was  a 
rallying  around  him,  as  a  sort  of  evangelic  centre.  He 
touched  a  greater  number  than  others  could  touch,  of  relig- 
ious and  theological  minds  in  their  forming  state.  He 
touched  more  of  the  causes  which,  under  God,  generate 
evangelical  results.  In  a  word,  through  the  early  training 
of  his  mind,  the  practical  character  of  his  pursuits,  the  fin- 
ished amenity  of  his  manners,  the  peculiar  post  of  labor 
assigned  him,  and  above  all,  the  eminently  intelligent  and 
elevated  character  of  his  piety,  the  providence  of  God  gave 
him  A  POSITION  which,  during  .his  life,  was,  on  the  whole, 
more  commanding  than  that  of  any  other  evangeUcal  clergy- 
man of  our  church.  A  bishopric  might  have  added  to  him 
somewhat  of  official  weight,  but  it  would  not  have  enlarged, 
perhaps  it  would,  in  some  respects,  have  lessened,  the  sphere 
of  his  influence. 

Under  this  last  remark,  there  happens  to  lie  before  the 
writer  an  apposite  illustration.  One  of  the  most  highly  re- 
spected of  our  bishops,  having  spent  some  days  with  Dr. 
Milnor,  and  observing  how  often  his  counsel  was  sought, 
and  how  active  was  the  agency  which  he  exerted  in  further- 
ing the  various  efforts  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel,  and  for 
the  good  of  men,  just  as  the  secretary  of  one  of  the  benevo- 
lent societies  had  left  his  door,  pleasantly  observed,  "I  see 
how  it  is.  Dr.  Milnor ;  you  have  all  the  responsibilities  and 
duties  of  the  office  of  a  bishop,  but  without  its  crown  of 
thorns." 

He  lived  to  witness  great  changes,  and  to  contribute  to 
a  wonderful  progress  in  the  spiritual  life  of  our  church. 
Some  of  his  letters  show  that  there  were  times  when  he 
was  filled  with  the  most  gladdening  hopes,  that  the  evan- 
gelical spirit  would  speedily  penetrate  and  enliven  every 
part  of  our  Episcopal  confederation.     Long  before  he  left 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  529 

the  stage  of  life,  the  terms  evangeUcal  and  anti-evangehcal 
had  ceased  to  be  exactly  synonymous  with  low-church  and 
high-church.  The  lines  which  divide  the  former,  were 
found  not  to  be  the  same  with  those  which  separate  the 
latter.  He  saw  no  reason,  therefore,  why  evangelical  doc- 
trine and  jyiety  should  not  become  universal  among  us, 
however  differences  about  church-theory  might  continue  to 
perpetuate  themselves.  He  loved  to  contemplate  that  doc- 
trine and  piety  in  the  character  of  a  sacred  leaven,  which, 
having  by  the  hand  of  the  Spirit  been  "  hid'^  in  the  midst 
of  us,  would  silently,  yet  speedily  "  leaven  the  whole  lump." 
He  saw,  indeed,  that  in  several  instances  it  became  mixed 
with  some  measure  of  human  elements,  and  was  diverted 
from  its  silent  working  and  leavening  of  the  mass,  and 
placed  in  the  attitude  of  a  competitor  for  the  honors  and 
the  influence  of  office  and  authority.  But,  as  his  letters  at 
such  times  indicate,  he  saw  this  with  grief,  and  felt  that 
the  evangelical  spirit  had  left  its  true  vocation,  and  was  in 
peril  of  losing  its  true  end.  As  to  the  doctrine  and  piety 
which  were  the  life  of  his  soul,  he  felt,  that  as  they  came 
from  Christ,  so  their  true  place  was  that  which  Christ  him- 
self assumed,  to  be  among  the  disciples  "  «s  he  that  serv- 
eth,"  and  to  leave  it  for  others  to  "  strive  among  themselves 
which  of  them  should  be  accounted  the  greatest."  This 
feeUng  governed  him  through  life.  Though  he  seldom,  if 
ever,  refused  a  post  which  called  him  to  labor,  yet,  it  is  be- 
lieved, he  never  sought  an  office  for  the  sake  of  honor,  or 
even  of  increased  usefulness.  He  saw  that  usefulness  does 
not  depend  on  office,  but  upon  a  God-given  heart  and  wiU, 
and  power  to  live,  and  act,  and  suffer  for  Christ.  To  this 
great  end,  therefore,  he  desired  to  see  the  evangelical  spirit 
in  our  church  wholly  consecrated  :  if  God,  in  his  providence, 
tlirust  it  into  office,  not  to  refuse  to  serve  him  even  there ; 
but  like  Christ,  to  make  this  its  one  great  aim,  to  minister, 
and  not  to  be  ministered  unto  ;  to  serve,  and  not  to  be  served. 
He  knew  that  neither  offices  nor  officers  can  make  a  church 

Mem.  Milnor.  23 


530  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

living  and  holy ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  a  church  made 
living  and  holy  hy  the  Spirit  of  God,  sought  in  prayer  and 
by  the  word,  will  be  least  likely  to  fill  its  offices  with  spirit- 
ually dead  and  unholy  men. 

It  is  needless  to  say,  that  when  the  movement  from 
Oxford  began  to  reach  this  country  and  to  affect  powerfully 
the  mind  of  our  church,  Dr.  Milnor  first  saw  reason  to 
apprehend  the  disappointment  of  his  hopes  as  to  the  per- 
vading spread  of  the  evangelical  spirit  through  every  part 
of  our  communion.  His  intelligent  and  discriminating  piety 
saw  too  clearly  the  utter  antagonism  of  the  evangelical  and 
the  Tractarian  theologies,  and  of  their  respective  tendencies, 
to  hope  that,  in  a  church  which  so  eagerly  and  so  exten- 
sively embraced  the  latter,  the  former  could  continue  to 
spread  towards  a  universal  prevalence.  Nay,  he  seemed  at 
times  oppressed  with  heavy  forebodings,  lest  the  long  coex- 
istence of  the  two  should  be  found  impracticable ;  lest  the 
evangelical  spirit  should  be  doomed,  amid  the  temporarily 
dark  ways  of  Heaven,  either  to  die  on  its  own  field,  or  to 
flee  away  where  it  could  live  and  labor  without  mixture 
and  without  conflict. 

The  foregoing  remarks,  it  is  believed,  exhibit  with  suffi- 
cient distinctness  Dr.  Milnor' s  position  in  our  church.  He 
belongs  strictly  to  its  evangelical  history.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  eminent,  luminous,  and  unchanging  embodiments 
of  its  evangelical  spirit.  His  was  always  one  light,  shining 
from  ONE  PLACE,  and  shining  fairer  and  farther  than  any  of 
its  contemporaries.  It  may  be  succeeded  by  other  lights  as 
clear  and  as  far  diflhsed ;  but  while  he  lived,  there  was 
probably  no  other  among  us,  upon  which  so  many  eyes  were 
turned,  which  was  so  nearly  central  in  our  evangelic  firma- 
ment. 

Before  finaUy  dismissing  this  topic,  however,  it  will  be 
proper  to  remark,  that  in  one  respect,  Dr.  Milnor  held  a  dif- 
ferent, or  rather  an  additional  position  in  our  church.  In  the 
general  counsels  of  our  body,  those  which  find  their  expres- 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  '531 

sion  through  our  triennial  convention,  the  value  of  his  ser- 
vices was  in  some  measure  appreciated.  As  we  have  ab'eady 
seen,  he  was  to  the  last  one  of  the  trustees  of  our  General 
Theological  Seminary,  and  in  that  hody  labored  as  unceas- 
ingly, and  we  hesitate  not  to  add  as  beneficently,  as  any  other 
of  its  members.  In  our  general  Board  of  Missions,  likewise, 
both  under  its  earlier  and  under  its  later  constitution,  his 
labors  were  of  the  highest  value ;  not  only  as  secretary  and 
general  agent,  but  also  as  a  more  permanently  working  mem- 
ber of  its  Foreign  Executive  Committee.  But,  in  the  coun- 
sels of  the  particular  diocese  to  which  he  belonged,  those 
which  find  expression  through  our  annual  New  York  conven- 
tion, he  held  virtually  7io  ijosition.  It  will  doubtless  by  many 
be  regarded  as  a  lasting  reproach  to  that  body,  that,  influ- 
enced apparently  by  a  fear  of  giving  him  influence,  it  studi- 
ously "kept  such  a  man,"  to  use  the  language  of  one  of  his 
correspondents,  "out  of  those  chief  places,  where  prudence, 
and  wisdom,  and  business  habits  were  wanted,  and  only  put 
him  where  he  would  seem  to  be  honored,  but  where  he  had 
no  chance  of  being /e/^."  To  all  this,  indeed,  he  found  no 
difficulty  in  submitting.  Place  was  not  peculiarly  the  object 
of  his  ambition.  Besides,  he  knew  that  he  was  felt,  and  that 
it  was  not  in  the  power  of  others  to  keep  him  in  the  dark 
or  under  bonds.  Still,  theirs  was  an  unwise  policy.  It  de- 
prived the  diocese  of  some  useful  service.  And,  so  far  as  it 
was  intended  as  a  censure  upon  his  course  in  the  Bible  and 
Tract  Societies,  and  in  his  lecture-room  and  prayer-meet- 
ings, it  was  weaker  than  mere  hrutum  fvlmen  ;  or  rather, 
it  defeated  itself:  it  probably  gave  him  more  sympathy  and 
companionship  in  that  course  than  he  would  have  otherwise 
enjoyed.  Upon  himself,  it  was  simply  powerless.  Con- 
scious of  a  sincere  and  warm  attachment  to  the  church  in 
which  he  was  a  minister — an  attachment  based,  not  on 
mere  sympathy,  but  on  firm  principle — he  yet  discerned  the 
compatibility  of  this  attachment,  and  of  his  proper  obhga- 
tions  as  an  Episcopalian,  with  that  sentiment  of  enlarged 


532  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

Christian  affection  and  brotherhood  which  he  cherished,  and 
with  that  course  of  cooperation  which  he  adopted,  in  what- 
ever involved  the  common  interests  only  of  our  common 
Christianity.  And,  believing  such  cooperation  to  be  not 
merely  consistent  with  principle,  but  also  important  to  the 
be.^t  interests  of  religion,  he  could  well  afford  to  meet,  with 
undisturbed  serenity,  all  the  opposition  which  he  encoun- 
tered, whether  from  honest  prejudice  or  from  illiberal  hos- 
tiUty. 

As  to  his  course  in  the  lecture-room  and  prayer-meeting, 
he  felt  that  that  was  his  own  concern ;  and  with  it,  there- 
fore, he  allowed  no  man  to  interfere,  except,  as  he  remarks 
in  one  of  his  letters,  in  the  way  of  friendly  advice.  The 
manner  in  which  he  met  opposition  on  this  ground  may 
be  illustrated  by  the  following  incidents  :  the  former  rest- 
ing for  its  truth  on  the  "  Recollections"  of  his  son,  and  the 
latter  certified  by  a  clerical  friend,  who  had  it  from  his  own 
lips. 

His  Friday-evening  lecture,  preceded  always  by  the 
shorter  service  from  our  liturgy,  and  concluded  by  extempo- 
raneous prayer,  was  at  first,  says  the  "  Recollections,"  *'  a 
source  of  much  difficulty.  The  bishop  made  strong  objec- 
tions to  it,  calling  it  an  irregular  meeting,  and  using  every 
effort  to  effect  its  discontinuance.  But  Dr.  Milnor  was  un- 
moved. He  had  not  adopted  his  course  without  prayerful 
consideration.  He  felt  that  he  was  in  the  path  of  duty,  and 
nothing  could  make  him  swerve  to  the  right  or  to  the  left." 
He  finally  ended  the  matter,  after  sufficient  listening  to  objec- 
tions, by  telling  the  bishop,  in  that  kind  but  peculiarly  firm 
and  decided  manner  which  he  was  capable  of  assuming,  that 
"  his  only  proper  and  efi'ectual  course  would  be,  that  pre- 
scribed by  the  canons  in  case  of  their  violation  by  a  presbyter, 
specific  charges  and  a  trial ;  that  his  duty  as  bishop  was 
plain ;  and  that,  as  the  presbyter  whom  the  charges  would 
affect,  he  was  ready  to  meet  them  on  their  trial."  But,  as 
no  violation  of  the  canons  had  taken  place,  no  charges  could 


RETROSPECT   OF  HIS  LIFE.  533 

be  preferred ;  the  matter  therefore  was  dropped,  and  Dr 
Milnor  thenceforward  pursued  this  part  of  his  course  without 
further  open  molestation. 

At  the  prayer-meetings  in  his  parish,  he  was  not  always> 
nor  even  generally,  present.  But  he  countenanced  them,  and 
was  occasionally  in  attendance.  One  evening,  while  the 
prayer-meeting  was  in  session,  the  bishop  came  to  his  house ; 
and  after  the  usual  statement  of  objections,  desired  Dr.  Mil- 
nor to  go  and  dismiss  the  assembly.  The  answer  which  he 
returned  was,  in  substance,  this :  "  Bishop,  I  dare  not  pre- 
vent my  parishioners  from  meeting  for  prayer  ;  but  if  you 
are  willing  to  take  the  responsibility  of  dismissing  them,  you 
have  my  permission."  Of  course,  the  praying  members  of 
St.  George's  remained  undisturbed. 

Such,  then,  on  the  whole,  was  Dr.  Milnor's  position  in 
the  Episcopal  church  :  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  all  her 
evangelical  clergy,  yet  in  nothing  wanting  as  one  of  her  most 
loyal  sons  ;  less  active  than  he  ought  to  have  been  made  in 
her  public  counsels,  but  probably  not  more  active  in  the  cause 
of  general  benevolence  than  he  would  have  been,  had  his  ser- 
vices in  our  church  been  ever  so  encouragingly  invited. 

Y.  TRAITS  OF  CHARACTER,  WITH  ILLUSTRATIVE 
ANECDOTES  AND  VIEWS. 

Let  a  few  notices  under  this  head  close  the  Memoirs,  in 
which  we  have  so  long  been  engaged.  They  may  not  amount 
to  an  adequate  analysis  of  the  character  of  Dr.  Milnor  ;  cer- 
tainly they  do  not  contain  all  that  fond  affection  would  say 
of  him  ;  but  they  are,  it  is  believed,  on  the  points  which  they 
involve,  a  truthful  picture  of  what  he  was. 

Intellectually,  then,  the  subject  of  this  notice  was  distin- 
guished for  great  quickness  of  perception,  and  activity  of 
mind  ;  for  uncommon  correctness  of  judgment,  and  as  uncom- 
mon firmness  of  purpose.  He  took  at  a  glance  a  clear  view 
of  every  subject  presented  to  his  examination,  and  rarely 
found  it  necessary  to  change  the  opinion  first  formed ;  al- 


534  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

though,  when  convinced  of  mistake  or  error,  no  man  more 
cheerfully  or  more  gracefully  acknowledged  it  than  himself. 
Bishop  Hobart  once  remarked,  "  I  had  rather  deal  with  Dr. 
Milnor  than  with  some  who  in  church  views  agree  with  me, 
because  I  always  know  where  to  find  him."  His  mind  was 
eminently  'practical.  For  imagination,  considered  as  one  of 
the  loftier  attributes  of  genius,  he  M-^as  not  particularly  dis- 
tinguished ;  though  in  a  certain  quick  and  agreeable  humor 
he  was  very  happy.  He  had  a  relish  for  true  poetry  and 
the  higher  classes  of  literature,  yet  he  had  nothing  hke  a 
passion  for  either  poetry  or  music,  or,  indeed,  any  of  the  sis- 
ter arts.  He  greatly  enjoyed  their  beauties,  but  made  no 
pretensions  to  the  genius  which  produces  them.  He  was  a 
rapid  and  very  correct  writer.  His  sermons  are  remarkably 
free  from  erasures  and  corrections  ;  and  he  had  a  talent 
which  made  him  always  a  ready  and  most  agreeable  cor- 
respondent. 

Theologically  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  characterize 
him.  His  doctrines  were  determined  by  the  standing  point 
which  he  finally  assumed,  and  from  which,  for  thirty  years, 
he  looked  upon  the  Christian  scheme.  Originally  a  stout 
anti-Calvinist,  grace  at  length  made  him  neither  a  disciple 
nor  an  opponent  of  the  Genevan  doctor,  but  emphatically  a 
disciple  of  Christ.  The  point  to  which  he  was  thus  brought, 
formed  and  fixed  his  whole  character,  both  as  a  Christian 
and  as  a  churchman ;  and  it  is  upon  this  point  alone  that 
any  thing  further  need  be  said  as  illustrative  of  the  theology 
which  he  cultivated. 

His  theology,  then,  was  not  speculative,  but  practical.  It 
was  a  light  which  he  received,  and  which  he  made  to  shine. 
It  was  not  a  cold,  but  a  warm  light ;  and  therefore  diffusive. 
He  was  not  spiritually  born  amid  the  dimness  of  supersti- 
tion ;  he  did  not  theologically  live  amid  the  depths  of  abstrac- 
tion. If  the  illustration  may  be  allowed,  his  soul  was,  in  an 
eminent  sense,  born  of  the  kSun ;  amid  the  light  that  shineth 
most  immediately  from  Christ.     His  new  birth  was  indeed 


UETUOSPEOT   OF  HIS  LIFE.  535 

the  work  of  the  Spirit ;  but  it  was  wrought  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus,  amid  diviner  teachings  than  fall  from  human  lips,  and 
under  a  higher  sacrament  than  is  administered  by  human 
hands  ;  amid  the  teachings  of  God's  perfect  word,  and  under 
the  mystery  of  His  mighty  love  in  Christ.  This,  doubtless, 
was  the  secret  of  all  the  subsequent  ''burning"  of  his  light. 
It  was  a  light  fed  daily  and  directly  from  the  Sun.  He  lived 
habitually  with  his  Saviour,  and  was  surrounded  continually 
by  the  intense  shining  of  those  glorious  truths  which  meet 
and  mingle  most  closely  in  the  halo  round  the  Saviour's  head, 
and  burn  and  beam  forth  most  immediately  from  the  myste- 
ries of  the  Saviour's  work.  He  did  not  undervalue  those 
external  and  formal  arrangements  which  Christ  left  on  earth 
for  the  conservation,  the  purity,  and  the  spread  of  his  wor- 
ship and  his  truth.  On  the  contrary,  he  ardently  loved  the 
Church  and  her  order,  and  was  ever  ready  for  such  services 
as  he  could  render,  and  for  such  sacrifices  as  he  could  make, 
either  for  her  welfare,  or  in  her  defence.  But  as  these  things 
of  the  Church  were  not  the  original  fountains  whence  he  drew 
his  light,  so  they  never  afterwards  became  more  than  the 
divinely  contrived  and  beautifully  arranged  glasses,  through 
which  that  light  came  tempered  to  his  vision. 

The  order  in  which  he  viewed  the  parts  of  the  great 
Christian  system,  seems  to  have  been  not  only  peculiarly 
scriptural,  but  also  essentially  important  in  accounting  for 
the  strong  and  steady  burning  of  his  Hght.  In  looking  at 
this  system,  his  point  of  view  was  not  from  the  earth.  His 
soul  was  not  doivn  here,  enveloped  in  the  visibilities  of  ser- 
vice, and  looking  up  through  a  dim  or  a  gorgeous  cloud  of 
architecture  and  shadows,  intercessors  and  semi-propitiators 
in  the  Church,  till  finally  it  caught  a  distant  glimpse  of  a 
diminished  and  almost  hidden  Saviour — a  little  babe,  half 
folded  in  the  ample  robes  of  a  resplendent  and  queenly 
mother ;  but  his  soul  was  up  there,  with  the  Saviour  him- 
geli  — with  the  Saviour,  clearly  and  fully  revealed — with  the 
Saviour,  shining  in  the  unobscured  greatness  and  efhilgence 


536  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

of  his  own  unshared  glory  on  the  adoring  mind  of  his  ser- 
vant— with  the  Saviour,  looking  down  on  the  Church  and  all 
her  decent  offices  and  order,  as  a  great  body  of  instruments 
to  be  used  in  the  conversion  of  a  lost  world  to  God. 

Or,  to  give  a  difierent  expression  to  the  idea,  this  was 
the  order  of  his  view  in  looking  at  the  Christian  system  : 
Christ  first,  "  the  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory,  and  the 
express  image  of  his  person  ;"  then  his  Cross  and  its  work  of 
sacrifice  for  sin;  then  "justification  by  his  blood,"  "the 
righteousness  of  God  by  faith  of  Jesus  Christ;"  next,  the 
work  of  the  Spirit,  receiving  these  things  of  Christ,  and 
showing  them  unto  men  to  glorify  him  ;  next,  the  deep,  dark 
sinfulness  of  man,  as  rendering  that  wondrous  work  of  Christ 
and  that  glorifying  work  of  the  Spirit  necessary  to  our  renew- 
al, sanctification,  and  eternal  life  ;  next,  the  "lively  oracles" 
of  God,  the  word  of  inspiration,  revealing  the  whole  body  of 
divine  truth,  and  speaking  with  the  only  infallible  authority 
beneath  the  sun ;  and  finally,  as  making  up  the  externals  of 
this  dispensation  of  mercy,  the  Church,  with  its  ministry  of 
the  word,  its  worship,  and  its  ordinances — the  Church,  a 
witness  divinely  appointed  to  keep  those  "lively  oracles" 
pure,  and  to  attest  their  origin  from  God — ^the  Church,  a 
great  golden  candlestick,  to  bear  up  and  send  forth  light  for 
the  world — the  Church,  a  trumpet  from  the  Lord,  to  blow 
the  enlivening  sound  of  his  salvation  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
This  was  the  order  in  which  he  viewed  the  connected  parts 
of  the  grand  Christian  system  :  Christ  first,  its  sun  and  cen- 
tre ;  then  all  those  truths  that  lie  closest  round  liim  and  are 
in  a  manner  his  outgoing  life  and  power ;  and  finally,  those 
outward  defences  and  helps  of  the  Church  which  God  hath 
set  for  carrying  on  his  saving  work  among  men.  Hence, 
we  see  what  it  was  that  kept  his  light  so  steadily  and  so 
brightly  "  burm?ig."  Originally  lit  from  the  Sun,  that  light 
was  ever  after  fed  from  the  Sun.  He  kept  his  light  close 
by  Christ;  among  the  luminous  truths  which  lie  nearest 
Christ. 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  537 

And  are  not  all  those  truths  which  have  been  named, 
most  divinely  luminous  ?  Or  if  one  alone  in  the  circle,  the 
sinfulness  of  man,  seem  a  dark  and  gloomy  radiance  from  the 
shadow  of  death,  yet  doth  not  even  this,  if  not  itself  lumi- 
nous, reflect  upwards  the  hght  of  all  the  rest  ?  Doth  it  not 
urge,  yea,  hurry  the  repenting  sinner  upwards,  till,  in  the 
actings  of  his  lively  faith,  his  once-defiled  soul  is  bathed  in 
the  clean  light  of  life  and  truth,  as  it  shines  around  the  Son 
of  God?  Accordingly,  does  not  this  account  for  the  fact, 
that  even  when  Dr.  Milnor  dwelt  on  the  sad  ruin  of  the  fall, 
and  meditated  on  his  own  sinfulness  in  the  sight  of  God,  the 
exercise  brought  no  stain  of  darkness,  and  cast  no  shade  of 
gloom- upon  his  spirit ;  that  it  did  but  raise  him  the  nearer  to 
his  Saviour,  and  cover  him  more  beauteously  with  the  light 
of  those  other  shining  truths  which  lie  around  the  Cross,  and 
stream  forth  from  Him  who  was  "  lifted  up"  to  be  "  the  light 
of  the  world?" 

Yes,  we  see  here  the  true  secret  of  what  we  are  now 
studying  in  the  character  of  this  man  of  God.  He  lived 
habitually  with  Christ,  and  among  the  truths  which  shine 
forth  of  his  unconcealable  Godhead,  and  of  his  gloriously 
redeeming  work.  This  it  was  which  made  his  own  light 
"  burn"  so  steadily  and  so  strongly.  He  could  not  be  other 
than  "  a  burning  light,"  when  he  lived  in  the  midst  of  such 
burning  brightness,  and  shone  down  upon  the  world  from 
such  a  watch-tower  of  living  hght.  It  is  only  when  the 
Christian  minister  wanders  away  from  Christ,  and  from  the 
central  truths  which  burn  around  him  ;  only  when  he  gets 
lost  or  bewildered  among  the  mazes  of  the  many  lesser  or 
subordinate  truths,  opinions,  and  externals,  which  he  more  or 
less  in  the  distance  :  only  then  that  his  light  burns  dim,  or 
shines  into  darkness,  or  goes  altogether  out.  Let  his  "  life 
be  ever  hid  with  Christ  in  God,"  and  his  light  shall  ever 
shine  beyond  the  power  of  being  hid. 

The  theological  system,  then,  indicated  by  the  standing 
point  from  which  Dr.  Milnor  looked  on  Christianity,  though 
23* 


538  MEMOIR  OF  BR.  MILNOR. 

it  may,  in  the  judgment  of  some,  mark  him  as  a  low- 
churchman,  yet  exhibits  him  to  the  eye  of  all  as  a  high- 
CHRiSTiAN ;  it  may  not  identify  his  creed  with  Calvinism, 
but  it  does  distinguish  his  doctrines  from  Tractarianism. 
Perhaps  his  best  description,  so  far  as  this  particular  is  con- 
cerned, may  be  thus  given :  he  was  eminently  a  Christian 
THEOLOGiST  j  Sufficiently  well  read  in  books,  but  still  more 
deeply  taught  by  the  Spirit,  and  therefore  belonging  less  to 
any  human  school  of  divinity  than  to  the  one  great  body  of 
Christ's  true  disciples  :  more  and  more  an  evangelical  divine ; 
less  and  less  a  doctrinal  disputant :  an  Episcopalian  by  coii- 
scientious  preference,  but  in  his  highest  birthright  and  aspi- 
rations, a  member  of  "the  general  assembly  and  church  of 
the  first-born." 

As  a  preacher,  he  was  as  bold  in  opposing  error  as  he 
was  zealous  in  defending  truth.  Yet  he  was  always  more 
ready  to  win  the  wandering  to  the  path  of  hoHness  by  kind 
invitings  and  gentle  expostulation,  than  to  terrify  him  by 
fierce  threatenings  and  harsh  upbraiding.  Perhaps  to  an 
uncommon  degree,  his  style  of  preaching  was  conciliatory. 
Though  he  failed  not  to  exhibit  the  terrors  of  the  law,  yet 
above  them  he  always  displayed  the  love  of  the  gospel.  He 
was  ever  careful  that  the  Saviour  should  appear  in  his  teach- 
ing, as  the  winning  Messenger  of  peace ;  one  to  whom  the 
weary  and  heavy  laden  might  come  and  find  rest.  The 
power  of  his  ministry  lay  in  the  word  love.  Asa  preacher, 
he  was  impressive  rather  than  strictly  eloquent.  His  enun- 
ciation was  remarkably  distinct ;  and  his  manner,  without 
being  violent,  was  earnest.  You  listened,  and  became  con- 
vinced that  the  speaker  felt,  in  the  recesses  of  his  own  heart, 
all  that  he  uttered  ;  and  that  his  love  for  his  flock  was  deep 
and  overflowing. 

Such  being  the  grand  theme  and  the  prevailing  spirit  of 
his  ministry — Christ's  truth  spoken  in  love — it  is  but  reason-* 
able  to  infer  that  his  labors  were  largely  successful.  The 
inference  is  sustained  by  facts.     Many  *'  times  of  refreshing 


RETROSPECT  OF   HIS  LIFE.  539 

from  the  presence  of  the  Lord"  passed  over  his  congregation, 
and  dropped  upon  them  regenerating  dews  from  the  over- 
shadowing Spirit ;  and  silent  blessings  were  generally  found 
waiting  on  his  steps.  From  his  densely  populous,  and  lat- 
terly, changing  parish,  multitudes  have  gone  forth,  through 
the  city  and  through  the  country,  bearing  the  impress  of  his 
doctrine  and  of  the  mind  of  Christ  which  was  in  him,  to 
be  church-members,  and  church-officers,  and  preachers  of 
Christ — some  of  them  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Even  his 
occasional  labors,  as  he  journeyed  round  the  land,  were  often 
richly  blessed.  How  many — like  the  Rev.  Richardson  Gra- 
ham, late  one  of  our  missionaries  to  China,  who  refers  his 
conversion  to  a  sermon  on  James  5:9,  "  Behold,  the  Judge 
standeth  before  the  door,"  which  he  incidentally  heard  Dr. 
Milnor  preach  at  St.  Paul's,  on  one  of  his  visits  to  Philadel- 
phia— have  been  the  fruits  of  his  seed-sowing  as  he  passed 
from  place  to  place,  the  great  day  only  can  reveal. 

So,  in  truth,  may  we  say  of  his  whole  ministerial  life. 
Dr.  Cutler,  in  a  sermon  delivered  soon  after  the  death  of 
his  old  friend,  on  the  text,  1  Cor.  4:15,  "  Though  ye  have 
ten  thousand  instructors  in  Christ,  yet  have  ye  not  many 
fathers,''  uses  the  following  truthful  language :  "To  multi- 
tudes, he  was  a  father  in  a  higher  sense  than  any  of  which 
we  have  yet  spoken.  He  it  was  by  whom  their  eyes  were 
first  opened  to  see  their  perishing  condition  by  nature,  and 
their  only  hope  of  salvation  in  Christ.  God  made  him  a 
fether  unto  them  by  a  tie  more  lasting  than  any  which  earth 
can  originate.  0  how  many  such  will  rise  up  in  the  day  of 
God,  and  call  him  blessed  I  His  paternal  anxieties  and 
patient  labors  will  be  amply  rewarded  when,  with  a  multi- 
tude of  sons  and  daughters,  he  shall  say  before  God,  *  Here 
am  I,  and  the  children  whom  thou  hast  given  me.'  Like 
the  blessed  Master,  he  even  now  '  sees  the  travail  of  his  soul, 
and  is  satisfied.'  And  when  God  shall  have  answered  all 
the  prayers  which  he  put  up,  and  brought  forward  into  fruit 
all  the  seed  which  he  sowed,  then  both  he  that  hath  sowed, 


540  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

and  he  that  shall  hereafter  reap,  will  abundantly  rejoice 
together." 

In  domestic  life — the  bosom  of  his  own  family — ^the  beau- 
ties of  his  character  shone  with  peculiar  lustre. 

Liberal  in  his  household  arrangements,  he  nevertheless 
discouraged  extravagance  and  disallowed  waste.  His  domes- 
tics loved  him,  and  looked  up  to  him  as  a  friend.  He  was 
very  regular  in  his  habits.  An  early  riser  from  youth,  he 
preferred  the  morning  hours  for  study,  and  always  accom- 
plished much  before  breakfast.  In  domestic  worsliip  he  took 
peculiar  dehght,  and  was  peculiarly  happy.  He  was  strict 
in  requiring  all  the  members  of  his  household  to  be  present, 
and  nothing  pained  him  more  than  the  unnecessary  absence 
of  any.  The  most  tender  and  devoted  of  husbands,  the  kind- 
est and  most  indulgent  of  fathers,  he  was  ever  seeking  the 
happiness,  temporal  and  eternal,  of  those  whom  he  loved. 
He  never  used  harshness  in  reproving  an  erring  cliild,  yet  he 
never  overlooked  a  fault,  nor  failed  firmly  to  reprove  the 
oITender. 

He  was  very  regular  at  meals,  and  very  temperate.  For 
a  large  portion  of  his  life,  he  had  been  in  the  habit — such 
was  the  custom  of  the  times — of  taking  an  occasional  glass 
of  wine  at  dinner.  But  many  years  before  his  death,  the 
habit  was  discontinued.  His  medical  advisers  opposed  the 
change,  from  an  apprehension  that  it  might  prove  injurious 
to  his  peculiar  constitution  under  advancing  years  ;  but  he 
was  firm,  and  afterwards  used  stimulants  only  when  pre- 
scribed as  medicine.  He  remained  to  the  end  a  warm  friend 
of  the  temperance  cause. 

As  he  was  an  early  riser,  so  he  retired  early  to  rest,  never, 
save  when  necessity  obliged  him,  consuming  the  midnight 
oil.  As  for  himself,  so  to  all  about  him,  he  successfully 
endeavored  to  make  his  dwelling  the  home  of  wise  modera- 
tion, cheerful  content,  holy  peace,  and  Christian  hospitality. 
His  house  was  always  open  to  his  brethren,  and  the  prophet's 
chamber  on  the  wall  ever  ready  for  a  guest.     One  of  his 


RETEOSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  541 

clerical  friends,  the  E,ev.  E.  W.  Peet,  long  in  habits  of  famil- 
iar and  frequent  intercourse  with  him,  in  a  discourse  preach- 
ed the  Sunday  after  his  death,  thus  embodies  his  impressions 
of  Dr.  Milnor's  domestic  life,  with  a  special  view  to  illustrate 
its  social  and  Iwspitable  character. 

"  Who  that  was  accustomed  to  step  over  the  threshold 
of  the  blessed  rectory  of  St.  George's,  was  not  at  once  con- 
scious of  being  under  the  roof  of  a  godly  man,  whose  name 
and  character  were  as  a  sweet  savor  among  the  intelligent, 
and  wise,  and  good?  What  forms  and  features  are  well 
remembered  there  I  What  zealous  ministers  of  Jesus  gath- 
ered round  his  board  I  How  familiarly  all  approached  him 
as  a  father  and  a  friend !  The  missionary  of  the  far  West, 
the  diligent  country  rector,  the  student  of  theology,  the  man 
of  benevolent  enterprise,  the  young  man  just  entering  on  the 
trials  of  city  life,  all  found  there  a  welcome.  And  there, 
too,  gathered  good  men  of  every  name  and  denomination. 
There  was  no  need,  in  his  case,  of  a  mitre  or  a  crozier.  An 
episcopate  would  have  added  nothing  to  the  savor  of  his 
character,  or  the  sacredness  of  his  influence.  There  is  no 
bishop  in  all  our  wide-extended  country  who  might  not  well 
have  deemed  himself  peculiarly  favored  in  the  cheerful,  vol- 
untary, irrepressible  love  and  attachment  which  Dr.  Milnor 
excited  and  secured  in  the  hearts  of  such  multitudes  of  good 
and  intelligent  men.  This  homage  no  official  station  can 
ever  purchase.  Such  station  may  secure  an  outward  exhi- 
bition of  respect,  but  the  hearts  of  men  are  beyond  its 
reach." 

It  is  important,  in  estimating  Dr.  Milnor's  character,  to 
note  more  specially  the  sweet  cheerfulness  of  temper  which 
his  religion  favored  and  produced.  The  impression  that  such 
strict  views  as  he  was  known  to  take  must  make  men 
gloomy,  is  one  of  those  subtle  and  lurking  errors  of  a  falsely 
reasoning  world  which  ought  to  be  met  at  every  step,  and 
exposed  in  all  its  falseness.  Of  this  error,  Dr.  Milnor  was 
a   living   refutation.     His  religion,   instead   of   destroying, 


542  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

heightened  and  perfected  his  natural  cheerfulness  of  disposi* 
tion.  Many  who  for  a  time  knew  him  only  by  the  public 
estimate  of  his  views,  were  astonished,  upon  subsequent 
personal  acquaintance,  to  find  in  him  nothing  of  the  gloom 
and  austerity  which  they  expected,  and  with  which  their  in- 
ferences from  his  self-humbling  doctrines  had  invested  him. 
Indeed,  he  abounded  in  cheerfulness  and  even  in  humor, 
though  his  cheerfulness  was  always  becoming,  and  his  hu- 
mor ever  delicate  and  chaste.  In  its  indulgence  he  never 
forgot  who  he  was,  and  whom  he  professed  to  serve.  His 
peculiarities  in  this  respect,  made  him  a  truly  dehghtful 
friend.  Says  Bishop  Kemper,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  William  H. 
Milnor,  written  after  the  father's  death,  "  He  was,  in  every 
respect,  a  charming  companion,  abounding  in  anecdotes, 
which  he  told  exceedingly  well,  and  often  with  much  humor. 
You  doubtless  remember  many  of  his  admirable  stories  about 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Colin,  the  old  rector  of  the  Swedish  churches 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Rev.  William  Ayres,  an  ancient 
clergyman  of  New  Jersey,  who  resided  two  or  three  years 
in  the  Pennsylvania  hospital  with  his  daughter,  while  she 
was  nurse  in  that  institution.  I  have  known  Bishop  White, 
when  we  have  been  dining  with  him,  turn  to  your  father, 
and  ask  him  to  relate  some  interesting  event,  knowing  that 
the  company  would  be  delighted  with  the  narrative  from 
his  manner  of  telling  it." 

His  flow  of  spirits,  and  his  fund  of  anecdote,  made  him 
truly  agreeable  in  society.  He  always  retained  the  easy  but 
dignified  deportment  which  early  mingling  in  the  society  of 
the  world  had  made  familiar  to  him.  The  Christian  gen- 
tleman shone  in  every  word  and  action.  "  I  have  before 
me,"  says  his  son,  "memory's  daguerreotype  of  his  beaming 
face  and  laughing  eye,  when  enjoying  some  fine  sally  of  wit ; 
and  of  his  earnest  countenance,  when  discussing  some  favor- 
ite topic."  In  argument  he  never  lost  his  temper.  Though 
he  expressed  himself  with  animation,  and  sometimes  with 
warmth,  yet  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  respect  due  to  his 


RETE.OSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  543 

opponent.  His  naturally  hasty  temper  was  subjected  to  a 
gracious  and  complete  control.  He  would  meekly  bear  re- 
proach for  a  season,  rather  than  harshly  resent  an  injury. 

The  benevolence  also  of  his  character  should  receive  its 
meed.  It  was,  indeed,  his  crowning  grace.  Drawn  to  his 
Saviour  by  love,  instead  of  being  driven  by  terror,  love 
was  the  life  of  his  religion ;  and  his  religion  was,  in  a  high 
sense,  but  love  in  activity.  His  whole  Christian  life  was 
enlarged  philanthropy — sanctified  benevolence.  How  much 
he  gave  from  his  moderately  ample  income,  we  have  no 
means  of  definitely  ascertaining.  His  contributions  to  all 
good  objects  were  liberal,  and  in  the  aggregate  large.  His 
pledge  towards  the  building  of  a  free  chapel,  made  near  the 
close  of  his  life,  was,  for  one  of  his  means,  munificent.  But 
in  general  we  find  no  record  of  his  gifts.  His  left  hand 
knew  not  what  his  right  hand  was  doing.  This  only  is 
certain,  that,  according  to  his  ability,  he  gave  much.  But 
his  giving,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  money  contributed,  was 
not  the  true  measure  of  his  real  benevolence.  His  life  was 
one  great  expression  of  this  heavenly  spirit.  And  it  will  not 
be  forgotten,  that  his  really  abounding  labors  in  the  Bible 
and  Tract  Societies,  and  in  the  general  agency  of  our  Foreign 
Executive  Committee,  were  all  gratuitous.  So,  in  part,  was 
his  visit  to  Europe,  as  their  first  and  most  laborious  dele- 
gate ;  and  it  would  have  been  wholly  so,  had  not  the  vestry 
of  his  parish  generously  relieved  him  of  a  portion  of  the 
expense.  Much  of  his  benevolence  expressed  itself  in  behalf 
of  objects  of  which,  ordinarily,  the  wealthy  world  knows  as 
little  as  it  may. 

His  ear  was  always  open  to  the  tale  of  woe,  and  his  hand 
never  shut  against  the  friendless  and  needy.  And  as  his 
private  resources  were  inadequate  to  all  the  calls  on  his 
purse,  he  took  peculiar  pleasure  in  carefully  cherishing  and 
wisely  applying  the  charity-fund  of  his  parish.  This  con- 
sisted of  the  revenues  of  the  offertory  at  communion  sea- 
sons, and  amounted  to  a  considerable  sum  per  annum.     His 


544  MEMOIE  OF  DP..  MILT7011. 

regular  pensioners,  the  old,  the  sick,  the  needy,  and  the  help- 
less, received  each  quarter-day  their  allotted  portions.  If  he 
■was  obliged  on  that  day  to  be  absent  from  home,  he  invari- 
ably left  neat  little  parcels  for  them  in  charge  with  some 
member  of  his  family.  He  furnished  them  with  wood,  and 
coal,  and  other  necessaries  during  the  inclemencies  of  winter ; 
his  own  purse  supplying  any  deficiency  which  unusual  calls 
might  create.  Bitter  were  the  tears  which  these  poor  old 
people  shed,  when  they  came,  one  by  one,  to  look  for  the  last 
time  upon  the  face  of  their  old  pastor. 

It  was  the  lovely  benevolence  of  Dr.  Milnor's  character 
which  gave  their  most  touching  pathos  to  the  scenes  at  St. 
George's  and  its  rectory,  immediately  after  his  decease  was 
announced,  and  on  the  day  of  his  funeral. 

"  The  moment  this  event  was  known,"  says  Mr.  Peet 
in  his  discourse,  "  the  throng  around  the  well-known  rectory, 
the  groups  of  lingering  parishioners,  the  eyes  strained  with 
weeping,  the  old  friends  from  distant  parishes,  whom  the 
growth  of  the  great  metropolis  had  separated  from  his  min- 
istry, proved  the  depth  and  sincerity  of  the  feeling  which 
prevailed,  and  bespoke  the  pressure  of  some  great  calamity. 
And  on  the  day  of  the  funeral,  men  of  all  ranks  and  profes- 
sions, and  clergymen  of  various  denominations,  gathered 
around  the  house  of  mourning ;  and  as  his  inanimate  re- 
mains were  borne  sadly  and  solemnly  into  the  sanctuary, 
which  for  so  many  years  had  reechoed  to  his  voice,  the  vast 
multitude  crowded  every  niche  and  corner,  from  floor  to  roof; 
and  there,  in  the  passages  and  open  vestibules,  closely  and 
densely  thronged,  were  seen  men  of  high  degree,  judges  and 
senators,  and  doctors  of  divinity,  mingled  with  the  poor 
daughters  of  Africa,  whose  tearful  faces,  if  apology  for 
tl  ?ir  presence  were  needed,  told  the  story  of  those  emotions 
which  had  brought  them  thither." 

"  To  some,"  Mr.  Peet  adds,  "it  may  seem  that  his  death 
was  painfully  sudden.  They  may  feel  surprised,  that  God's 
faithful  ones  should  be  denied  the  privilege  of  testiiying,  in 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  545 

their  last  hours,  of  the  grace  and  mercy  which  they  have 
received.  But  not  thus  ought  we  to  reason.  The  death  of 
the  good  man  is  never  sudden.  He  dies  daily.  He  converses 
often  with  death  and  the  judgment.  He  has  all  things  in 
readiness,  and  he  prefers  that  his  whole  life  should  testify 
of  the  grace  and  mercy  which  his  Saviour  has  bestowed." 
This  language  is  appropriate.  Dr.  Milnor  had  no  dread  of 
sudden  death,  and  it  was  his  special  desire  to  make  his  life 
speak  to  the  last.  *'  He  had  a  great  dread,"  says  his  son, 
"  of  being  obliged  to  give  up  duty,  and  earnestly  desired  that 
he  might  be  enabled  to  work  to  the  very  end  of  the  day. 
A  sudden  death  was  to  him  a  visitation  of  mercy."  He 
had  his  wish ;  for  almost  literally, 

"  He  ceased  at  once  to  labor  and  to  live." 

It  is  true,  that  when  he  fell  asleep  there  was  no  song 
upon  his  lips.  But,  twenty  years  before,  those  who  were 
near  him,  heard  him  sing  in  the  very  spirit  of  the  great 
apostle,  when  "  ready  to  be  offered."  At  that  time  he  sup- 
posed himself  to  be  actually  in  the  passage  of  the  straits  of 
death ;  dying,  not  with  the  suddenness  which  finally  snatched 
him  away,  but  with  a  distinct  perception  of  the  gradual  yet 
apparently  inevitable  approach  of  his  end.  That  was  the 
hour  of  his  triumph.  J'heii  he  sung  the  song  of  the  apostle. 
Then  the  grave  opened  before  him  a  lighted  passage  to  glory. 
Can  we  then  suppose,  that  after  so  long  an  added  course  of 
ever-increasing  faithfulness  in  labor,  and  of  ever- increasing 
ripeness  in  grace,  the  scene  at  last  proved  a  dark  one  ?  No. 
Had  not  death  chained  his  tongue  in  almost  instant  silence, 
we  cannot  doubt  it  would  again  have  sung  the  song  of  tri- 
umph— would  again,  have  spoken  of  the  preciousness  of 
Christ — would  again  have  testified  to  the  power  of  that  faith 
which  can  make  the  dark  dwelling  of  the  grave  itself  a  land 
of  light.  Had  his  passing  away  been  ordered  according  to 
human  wish,  he  might,  indeed,  have  been  too  humble  to 
make  his  last  song  in  the  precise  words  of  the  apostle  ;  and 


546  MEMOIR,  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

yet,  now  that  he  is  gone,  there  can  be  neither  presumption 
nor  impropriety  in  our  putting  those  words  into  his  mouth, 
and  conceiving  the  silence  of  his  death-bed  as  having  been, 
made  vocal  to  the  ear  that  "  heareth  in  secret,"  with  this 
animating  strain  :  "I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  fin- 
ished my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith  :  henceforth  there  is 
laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord, 
the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day ;  and  not  to 
me  only,  but  to  all  them  also  that  love  his  appearing."  Nor 
can  there  be  any  presumption  or  any  impropriety  in  believ- 
ing that  the  same  silence  in  which  this  was  heard,  brought 
back  to  his  own  inner  ear  the  cheering  response,  "  Well  done, 
good  and  faithful  servant ;  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy 
Lord." 

A  very  few  of  the  many  anecdotes  and  illustrations  of 
his  character  and  habits,  which  might  have  been  collected, 
remain  to  be  added.  They  might  have  been  inserted  in 
other  and  more  appropriate  places,  but  having  escaped  no- 
tice till  now,  they  are  given  here,  by  way  of  taking  our  last 
look  of  the  man. 

HIS  HABITS  OF  SERMON-WRITING  AND  PASTORAL  DUTY. 

He  made  it  a  practice,  says  his  son,  every  Sunday  even- 
ing, to  select  a  text  for  the  ensuing  Lord's  day ;  and  on 
Monday  morning,  he  always  commenced  the  writing  of  his 
sermon. 

A  portion  of  every  fair  day,  generally  the  latter  part,  he 
spent  in  visiting  his  parishioners,  both  sick  and  well.  He 
loved  to  be  among  his  flock ;  and  considered  parochial  vis- 
itation as  among  a  pastor's  most  important  duties. 

HIS  FAVORITE  ALLEGORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

This  was  suggested  by  one  of  the  Saviour's  well-known 
parables.  He  loved  to  view  the  Church  of  Christ  as  an 
extensive  vineyard.  Here  and  there  different  classes  of  la- 
borers are  engaged  in  cultivating  the  same  great  vine  ;  their 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  547 

diflerent  modes  of  training  it  being  determined  by  diversities 
of  taste,  judgment,  and  skill.  The  roots  strike  deep  into  the 
same  soil.  The  branches  climb  aloft  towards  the  same 
heaven.  Its  fruitfulness  is  dependent  on  the  same  divine 
influences.  And  one  and  all  who  labor  faithfully  their 
allotted  season,  receive  at  its  close,  from  the  same  Master, 
the  sa77ie  ''penny  a  dayT 

HIS  IDEA  OF  TRUE    CATHOLICISM. 

"  Between  Dr.  Milnor  and  the  sectarian  bigot  there  was 
no  fellowship  of  feeling."  In  illustration  of  this  remark,  his 
son  relates  the  following  :  *'  I  remember,  though  at  the  time 
a  mere  boy,  listening  to  a  conversation  between  him  and  a 
brother  clergyman  who  was  then  his  guest.  This  gentleman 
advocated  extreme  high-church  views  ;  shutting  the  gate  of 
heaven  against  all  without  the  pale  of  the  Episcopal  church, 
save  as  the  uncovenanted  mercy  of  God  might  perhaps 
grant  them  admittance.  After  long  argument  on  the  sub- 
ject, my  father's  face  glowing  with  animation,  he  exclaimed, 

*  Why,  my  good  sir,  if  I  held  such  views  as  you  have  ex- 
pressed, I  could  not  rest  to-night  on  my  pillow.  I  have 
beloved  relatives  and  dear  friends,  who  are  without  the  pale, 
as  you  define  it.  Their  hopes  and  mine  rest  on  the  same 
Jesus.  Are  they  to  be  excluded  from  the  covenanted  bene- 
fits of  his  atonement,  simply  because  they  have  not  been 
baptized  in  an  Episcopal  church,  and  do  not  worship  accord- 
ing to  a  particular  form  ?' 

"When  recovering  from  a  violent  attack  of  gout,  and 
unable  to  read  from  an  affection  of  the  eyes,  I  read  to  him 
one  afternoon  the  controversy  between  Drs.  Wainwright  and 
Potts  on  the  question  whether  there  can  be  a  church  with- 
out a  bishop.     When  I  had  finished,  he  mildly  observed, 

*  The  difference  between  high-churchmen  and  myself  is  this  : 
they  magnify  into  essentials  what  I  consider  non-essentials.^ 
At  another  time,  when  reading  to  him  an  advertisement 
of  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  distinctive  principles  of  the 


548  MEMOIR  OF  DR.  MILNOR. 

Church,  '  I  should  prefer,'  said  he,  *  a  course  on  the  dis- 
tinctive principles  of  the  Gospel.'  " 

HIS  INDIFFERENCE  TO  OFFICIAL  ELEVATION. 

It  is  well  known  to  many,  that  he  was  more  than  once 
solicited  to  consent  to  a  nomination  as  candidate  for  the 
Episcopal  office.  He  sometimes,  in  his  vein  of  serious  hu- 
mor, refused  his  applicant  by  saying,  "  No ;  I  have  long  since 
made  up  my  mind  to  accept  no  mitre  lower  than  that  of  the 
diocese  of  New  York  I" 

At  a  meeting  of  clergy  of  different  denominations,  the 
subject  of  an  election  of  an  assistant  bishop  for  the  diocese 
of  Pennsylvania  was  introduced.  A  friend  playfully  re- 
marked to  him,  "  Dr.  Milnor,  I  understand  there  is  danger 
that  a  mitre  will  fall  upon  your  head."  "Not  the  least," 
he  as  playfully  replied.  "  If  my  Presbyterian  brethren  made 
bishops,  I  might  possibly  have  some  chance.  But,  indeed," 
he  more  seriously  continued,  "  I  have  no  aspirations  on  the 
subject.  I  have  seldom  known  a  presbyter  made  bishop 
whose  piety  was  not,  more  or  less,  a  sufl'erer  from  the  ele- 
vation.    I  have  little  enough,  as  it  is." 

By  this,  he  doubtless  meant,  that,  to  the  true  usefulness 
and  the  true  dignity  of  a  minister  of  Christ,  personal  lyiety 
is  more  important  than  official  rank;  and  that,  although 
the  latter  is  not  necessarily  incompatible  with  the  former  in 
even  its  highest  grade,  yet,  considering  the  weakness  of  our 
nature,  there  is,  in  all  elevated  official  distinction,  a  peril  to 
Christian  character,  which  should  deter  the  faithful  and 
humble  servant  of  Christ  from  coveting  the  exposure.  To 
use  one  of  his  own  quotations,  "  O  s^  s,ic  omnes!'^  The 
Church  would  have  more  peace,  and  the  world  more  profit. 

We  now  leave  the  subject  of  our  Memoir  to  his  rest  in 
Christ,  to  the  affectionate  regards  of  Christ's  people,  and  to 
the  blessing  of  God  on  his  beneficent  example.  In  this 
world  are  many  kinds  of  greatness.     There  is  a  greatness 


RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  LIFE.  549 

which  is  terrible,  and  a  greatness  which  is  splendid,  and  a 
greatness  which  is  profound.  Perhaps  the  best  idea  of  a 
great  man  is  this  :  one  who  has  enough  perspicacity  to  dis- 
cern truth,  though  it  has  become  enveloped  in  a  fog ;  and 
enough  love  for  truth  discerned,  to  follow  it,  though  it  lead 
into  a  fire.  This  is  the  real  martyr  for  Christ,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  man  who  fancies  himself  "  persecuted  for 
righteousness'  sake,"  when  he  is  merely  punished  for  self- 
righteousness.  Of  this  true  greatness  Dr.  Milnor  had  more 
than  a  common  share.  Certainly  his  greatness  was  neither 
terrible  nor  splendid ;  but  it  was,  if  not  in  the  fullest  sense 
profound,  at  least  in  the  truest  sense  lovely.  It  wants  not 
that  which  commends  him  to  our  respect ;  but  it  has  most 
of  that  which  wins  our  affection.  His  was  the  greatness  of 
beneficent  action,  of  a  living  benevolence,  and  of  an  enlarged 
Christian  sympathy.  If  he  astonished  not  by  deep  discov- 
eries in  science,  by  brilliant  displays  of  genius,  or  by  pro- 
digious acquisitions  in  learning,  he  nevertheless  blessed  by  a 
noble  example,  by  a  beneficent  life,  and  by  yielding  freely 

AND    BEING  READY  TO    SUBMIT    PRACTICALLY   TO    THE    HIGHEST 

CLAIMS  OF  THE  GREATEST  TRUTHS.  He  penetrated  greatly 
into  the  depths  of  Christian  experience.  He  felt  with  great 
power  the  sinfulness  of  his  nature  and  the  imperfections  of 
his  life ;  and,  with  great  ingenuousness  and  self-abasement, 
carried  all  his  sins  and  all  his  imperfections  to  the  Cross  of 
Christ,  and  gave  to  his  Saviour  alone  all  the  glory  of  his 
great  salvation.  He  took  a  great  grasp  on  eternal  things, 
and  lived  greatly  by  seeking,  as  the  one  high  aim  of  his 
studies,  his  labors,  and  his  prayers,  the  supreme  glory  of 
God  in  the  everlasting  welfare  of  man.  May  such  samples 
of  Christian  character  be  multiplied,  till  all  the  world  has 
learned  how  great  is  God,  and  how  great  is  goodness. 


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